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The oldest player in the NFL could retire as soon as Monday.
Following his second straight bad performance which saw him miss two extra points in the Indianapolis Colts‘ 19-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Week 2, 46-year-old kicker Adam Vinatieri teased retirement following the game.
Just grabbed Adam Vinatieri was he headed to the bus. He said “you’ll here from me tomorrow.” I told him we don’t see him tomorrow. And he said, “Yeah, you will.”
Adam Vinatieri Says He’ll Talk to Reporters on Day Off
As Mike Wells of ESPN details, Monday is obviously the day off for NFL players who play on Sunday. Vinatieri indicating that reporters will hear from him on Monday gives the impression that the oldest player in the NFL is ready to walk away from the game.
Adam Vinatieri, who missed 2 extra points; walked out the locker room only to say, “You’ll hear from me tomorrow.” When reminded players’ day off he said, “Yeah you will (hear from me Monday”
Even team owner Jim Irsay indicated that Vinatieri may be on the way out after a third straight horrific performance from the legendary kicker. This is pure speculation, but Vinatieri may be retiring knowing that the Colts could cut him — which would be a rather bad ending to what is possibly a Hall-of-Fame career.
Here is a more detailed quote from Irsay following the game in the team’s locker room, via Mike Wells of ESPN.
“Breaks my heart to see it because I know how hard (Vinatieri) works,” Colts owner Jim Irsay said outside the locker room after the game. “Of course it’s a concern. I can’t lie to you guys. Anyone would tell you it’s a concern. Adam, coach (Frank Reich), (general manager) Chris (Ballard), me. Yeah, I mean in this league it’s professional football. We all have to produce.
However, while Irsay seemed to indicate that Vinatieri is at fault for his misses, head coach Frank Reich took the heat off of his kicker by saying that the snap and the hold were not clean.
“I have zero concern,” Reich said. “He hit the upright on the one. You guys probably saw the first one. It was not a good operation. That snap and hold was not clean, the ball barely got on the ground. It was not clean.”
Irsay and Reich’s comments would seem to indicate there are differing perspectives on the issue, although Vinatieri himself took blame for the three misses in the Colts’ 33-27 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1.
Adam Vinatieri Has Been Terrible in the First 2 Weeks
Although the Colts walked away with a victory in Week 2 — unlike in Week 1 when Vinatieri missed three kicks — it’s become pretty clear that the 24-year veteran may be done. In his last three games dating back to the Colts’ Wild Card Playoff game last year, he’s 1-of-4 on field goal kick and a horrendous 3-of-7 on extra point attempts, as pointed out by Field Yates of ESPN.
Adam Vinatieri’s last three games:
AFC Wild Card: 0-1 FG, 1-2 XP
Week 1: 1-3 FG, 1-2 XP
Week 2 so far: 0-0, 1-3 XP
Vinatieri has been in the league so long that he made his debut on Sep. 1, 1996 — before a lot of NFL players were even born.
The former Super Bowl hero is best known for his game-winning kicks with the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI against the St. Louis Rams and Super Bowl XXXVIII versus the Carolina Panthers.
Although Vinatieri will go down as the most clutch kicker in NFL history, it’s clear that the magic is gone.
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