Kicked to the curb

 

It seemed to be kismet – or at least "kicksmet." Fate had paired a cold-weather region hungry for a championship with a cold-blooded kicker who could deliver in crunch time. It was a picture-perfect union.

 

Now, the 10-year love affair between New England and Adam Vinatieri has ended in acrimony.

 

By providing the margin of victory for three championships in four seasons, Vinatieri earned a permanent spot in the hearts of Patriots fans. With the recent announcement that he has agreed to play for the rival Colts, the clutch kicker has made those same fans heartsick.

 

To understand all of the emotions involved, you have to go back to the carefree summer of 1996. Vinatieri was undrafted after playing for South Dakota State, a Division II school. New England didn't even sign him as a free agent until June 28, so Patriots backers knew very little about him. But, as often happens, love blossomed when neither party was expecting it.

 

At the time, New England had been in a relationship with Matt Bahr for over two years. He was reliable and had a great reputation, the only kicker to win Super Bowls with two different teams. As a rookie in 1979, Bahr registered 104 points while the Steelers chased their fourth title. He opened the scoring in Super Bowl XIV, a 31-19 victory over the Rams, by connecting on a 41-yard field goal.

 

Eleven years later, Bahr also provided the first and last points in Super Bowl XXV. He booted a 28-yard field goal to give the Giants an early 3-0 lead over the Bills and added a go-ahead 21-yarder in the fourth quarter. Kicking would obviously prove crucial, as Buffalo's Scott Norwood infamously missed his shot at a game-winner, giving New York a 20-19 victory.

 

Bahr was certainly a trophy kicker, but New England wasn't married to him. When Vinatieri came along, there was an immediate attraction. He was much younger and possessed a powerful, accurate leg. By the end of training camp, Vinatieri had claimed the placekicker position, and Patriots fans had claimed him as theirs.

 

That '96 season ended with New England playing in Super Bowl XXXI, a 35-21 loss to the Packers, but Vinatieri would eventually make such trips more frequent and more satisfying. He helped the Patriots spring their monumental 20-17 upset of the heavily favored Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI by drilling a 48-yard field goal as time expired. He again was "Adam-matic" at the end of Super Bowl XXXVIII, hitting a 41-yarder in the closing seconds of a 32-29 victory.

 

Pressure kicks had become Vinatieri's specialty, and Patriots fans believed that he would always come through. His legend had forever been forged on Jan. 19, 2002, when New England was still in pursuit of its first championship. Amid a barrage of snowflakes, Vinatieri propelled the Patriots to an unforgettable playoff victory over the Raiders in the final game at Foxboro Stadium. Kicking a frozen ball in a blizzard, he connected on a tying 45-yard field goal with 27 seconds remaining in regulation and then made the 27-yard game-winner in overtime.

 

There is no denying that Vinatieri has been as clutch as any kicker in NFL history. He has also been as popular. With success, he found that more and more people were resembling him – just as couples tend to look like each other over time. When Vinatieri decided not to shave throughout the '01 playoffs, many of the hirsute followed suit. No. 4 Patriots jerseys became commonplace throughout New England.

 

Now that Vinatieri will be donning the colors of the hated Colts, however, everything has changed. Typical of a bad breakup, Patriots supporters have begun finding fault with their former flame. They wonder whether they had romanticized his importance.

 

Over his career, Vinatieri had 20 game-winning field goals. Here is a breakdown:

 

* playoff game

** Super Bowl

 

With the benefit of hindsight and new-found bitterness, Patriots fans are better able to nitpick. In eight of those 20 victories, Vinatieri had missed an earlier field goal, necessitating his late-game heroics. On 18 of the 20 occasions, Vinatieri was kicking in a tied game, where a successful field goal would mean victory, but a failed attempt would not necessarily result in a loss.

 

The pressure is considerably lessened when you know that you might get another chance. The only time that Vinatieri hit a field goal to overcome a deficit in the final minute, it was from just 23 yards out. That happened in Week 1 of the 1999 season.

 

New England also suffered six defeats by three points or less in games when Vinatieri missed at least one field goal:

Dredging up these infrequent failures helps Patriots fans with the healing process. You see, it's only after feeling betrayed that they would be critical of the greatest big-game kicker the sport has ever known.

 

By moving on, Vinatieri broke the collective heart of New England, much in the way he had dashed the hopes of opponents over the years. Left behind were priceless memories and a lingering fondness for the kicker who always delivered. But now, melancholic Patriots fans must put away that perfect picture.