Last Standout

Before the New England Patriots fall to their knees and thank their lucky stars for Adam Vinatieri, they might want to pay homage to Gen. George Custer.

It was Custer who employed the kicker’s great-great-grandfather, Felix Vinatieri, as his bandleader. And it was Custer who instructed the elder Vinatieri and the rest of his 16-member brass band to wait on a supply steamboat on the Powder River, rather than join the rest of the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn. That had to be a welcome benching for Vinatieri, seeing as Custer and 276 of his men were ambushed and massacred in a legendary battle against Crazy Horse and his Sioux warriors on June 26, 1876.

There is some discrepancy about exactly how Vinatieri escaped certain death that day. According to the website for the National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota, he was sent to the steamboat, which later served as a makeshift hospital. In another version of the story, he had fallen ill and was asked not to participate in the fight. Regardless, he survived.

“If you go deep enough into family history, everybody’s got an interesting story,” said Adam Vinatieri, whose family still lives in South Dakota. “That happens to be mine.”

How fitting that Felix Vinatieri is defined by his great escape. His great-great grandson seems to make one every week.

Fifteen times in eight seasons, Adam Vinatieri has kicked field goals in the final minute of the fourth quarter or overtime that have won games for the Patriots. Some people consider him the most clutch kicker in NFL history.

Those people do not live in Indianapolis. To those people, and untold others, the most clutch kicker is Mike Vanderjagt of the Indianapolis Colts, who ranks first in league history with a career field-goal percentage of 87.9. He has not missed this season, set the league record with 41 consecutive field goals without a miss and has made nine game-winning field goals in his career.

“Honestly, he’s having the best season of any kicker at any time,” Vinatieri said of Vanderjagt. “He’s really a great kicker.”

So even though the NFL championship will not be decided for another two weeks, Sunday’s AFC title game between the Patriots and Colts is the unquestioned super-foot Super Bowl.

“Mike’s having a great year, and New England has the same type of kicker,” Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy said. “If this game comes down to field goals, I think you want to be the team that’s kicking and not the team that’s trying to block one.”

Two years ago, Vinatieri made what might be the greatest pressure kick in NFL history, booming a 45-yard field goal through a blizzard to force overtime in a divisional playoff game against the Oakland Raiders. He won that game with a 23-yarder in the extra period.

So unbelievable was that overtime-forcing kick, the NFL has turned it into a commercial to promote the playoffs. In the spot, actor Don Cheadle tries to re-create the moment, but his kick barely dribbles off the tee. The shot widens to reveal a stagehand sprinkling white confetti into a giant fan. A frustrated Cheadle mutters to himself that it isn’t even real snow.

“I’ve only seen the last two seconds of that,” Vinatieri said. “My friends have told me about it. I’ve got to call the league to get a copy. It’s neat to have them recognize different plays and different players.”

Vinatieri made Super Bowl history two weeks after that kick, connecting on a 48-yard field goal as time expired to give the Patriots a 20-17 victory over the St. Louis Rams.

“That one happened so fast I didn’t really have time to think about it,” he said. “We were in the two-minute drill, and all of a sudden I was running out there to kick it.”

As reliable as he has been when a game hangs in the balance, Vinatieri has been shaky at times this season. He has missed nine of his 34 field-goal attempts and has had to adjust to three long snappers and two holders. Recently, he has had back problems, although he’s uncomfortable talking much about those.

“I feel all right now,” he said. “I feel OK, and I’m going to be playing this week. I’m just happy to be playing.”

Unlike some kickers who live life as NFL outsiders looking in, Vinatieri is among the most popular players on the team. He’s a football player first -- a solid athlete at 6 feet, 202 pounds who can hit someone if he needs to.

“Kickers to me have always been a little odd, a little squirrelly, danced to a different drummer,” tight end Christian Fauria said. “Maybe it’s because they don’t feel a part of the team because they don’t practice with us. But since I’ve been here, [Vinatieri’s] always been involved in everything. I don’t think he’s mental like most kickers are. He’s the type of guy where if he could he’d want to play linebacker.”

And, at times, he almost has. One of Vinatieri’s proudest NFL moments was when he saved a touchdown on a kickoff return by running down Dallas’ Herschel Walker. That tackle not only won over lots of New England fans but Bill Parcells, then coach of the Patriots. Parcells pulled Vinatieri aside and told him, “You’re not just a kicker now.”

Never was just a kicker. Just ask his third cousin, someone who knows a thing or two about steely nerves and performing under pressure, a cool-headed guy who carved out his own career sending objects rocketing into the air, a fellow crowd-pleaser who trades phone calls and Christmas cards with Vinatieri every year.

Evel Knievel.

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Clutch Kicker

With his tying 45-yard field goal and game-winner through the snow in the 2001 season AFC divisional playoffs against Oakland, his 48-yard game-winner as time expired in Super Bowl XXXVI against St. Louis, and his 46-yard game-winner in near-zero temperatures against Tennessee on Saturday, Adam Vinatieri has established himself as a clutch kicker. Fifteen times in eight seasons he has kicked field goals in the final minute of the fourth quarter or in overtime to win a game. His regular-season and postseason statistics:

REGULAR SEASON

*--* YARDS: 1-29 30-39 40-49 50+ Total Lg Pct 2003 16-17 4-8 5-8 0-1 25-34 48 73.5 Career 89-93 60-75 55-81 8-14 212-263 57 80.6

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POSTSEASON

*--* YARDS: 1-29 30-39 40-49 50+ Total Lg Pct 2003 0-0 0-0 1-2 0-0 1-2 44 50.0 Career 6-6 2-2 4-7 0-1 13-18 48 72.2

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