Columns

The sure thing

By JOHN ROMANO
Published February 1, 2007

MIAMI

It is not in their nature to admit fear. These are strong men. Tough men. The kind of men who refuse to back down, and never give up.

And yet, come Super Bowl Sunday, there is one person who can frighten the bejeebers out of every last man on the Chicago Bears sideline.

Say hello to Adam Vinatieri, the scariest dude in the NFL.

"Oh, it's an awful feeling when he comes out for the end of a game," Colts receiver Ricky Proehl said.

He is a teammate this time around, but Proehl has stood across the field and watched Vinatieri kill leads and dreams before.

In Super Bowl XXXVI, Proehl was supposed to be a hero. He scored the tying touchdown for St. Louis with 1:30 remaining. Instead, on the game's final play, Vinatieri kicked a 48-yard field goal for New England's first Super Bowl title.

In Super Bowl XXXVIII, Proehl was once again headed for glory. He scored the tying touchdown for Carolina with 1:08 left. Instead, with four seconds on the clock, Vinatieri kicked a 41-yard field for New England's second title.

When his parents recently met Vinatieri, Proehl introduced him as the man who cost him two Super Bowl rings. "When he comes on the field, the game is over," Proehl said. "It's done."

He is the ultimate closer. The man standing between fame and footnote.

Without him, Bill Belichick is a couple wins shy of genius. Without him, Tom Brady has as many Super Bowl rings as Trent Dilfer.

Without Vinatieri kicking a 45-yard field goal in a driving snow to send a playoff game to overtime against Oakland, the Raiders may have gone to Super Bowl XXXVI. And Jon Gruden may never have come to Tampa Bay.

His is a career that has literally shaped the NFL. Vinatieri has made more postseason field goals than any kicker. He has the only two winning field goals the Super Bowl has known in the past 35 years.

You want to talk about the New England dynasty? It begins with Vinatieri, and it may have ended when the Patriots let him get away in the offseason.

"Money," Colts coach Tony Dungy said on the sideline with cameras watching as Vinatieri put the Ravens away with his fifth field goal last month.

Oh, he is money. Perhaps the best money the Colts have ever spent.

Indianapolis left the postseason prematurely last season when Mike Vanderjagt missed a 46-yard field with 17 seconds left against Pittsburgh.

So when New England allowed Vinatieri to become a free agent in the offseason, the Colts offered a $3.5-million signing bonus and a stadium without wind.

In the end, the Patriots allowed the most clutch field-goal kicker in NFL history to walk away because they did not want to give him the $500,000 raise that a franchise label would have cost them.

Vinatieri was not the first player New England shooed away because of a salary dispute, but he may be the first it regrets for years to come.

Ask Vinatieri about the wisdom of New England's move and he shrugs as if he were just another guy with a kicking tee in his back pocket.

"They have their philosophies on what they do," he said.

He is like that, this kicker of history. He talks as if he is just another one of the guys, which is why the Colts seem to hold him so dearly. You know, that and his 11 consecutive field goals this postseason.

Maybe it was because he was an easily forgettable quarterback and linebacker in high school and a bit of a stiff as a kicker at South Dakota State.

Or it could have been that year he had to spend in NFL Europe before finding a home with New England. Whatever it is, Vinatieri has always understood that there are no guarantees. He has never taken for granted what everyone seems to accept as a certainty when he walks on the field.

"You watch him in our offseason workouts, and he's in there running and lifting with the linebackers and tight ends," special teams coach Russ Purnell said. "He's not a track guy. He's not a soccer player. I've been around some kickers like that. This guy, he's a football player."

Vinatieri is 34 and heading to immortal. The Pro Football Hall of Fame has been around for 44 years and has enshrined 235 players, but only one pure kicker, Jan Stenerud in 1991.

Perhaps, some day soon, that will change. Maybe when Morten Andersen's name comes up. Or maybe it will be Gary Anderson. Whether there are additions in the interim is still to be determined. The only certainty is that Vinatieri is heading to Canton soon after his playing days have ended.

"He's the best," Bears kicker Robbie Gould said. "He lives for the postseason, and he never misses. He's like a machine."

Not quite. Machines can break down.

When the game is on the line, Vinatieri never does.

John Romano can be reached at (727) 893-8811.

[Last modified February 1, 2007, 05:54:06]