“I just missed it,” Vinatieri said. “I got to do better than that, just pulled it left.”
Adam Vinatieri is in the midst of his worst NFL season, but the Colts aren’t planning on making a change. After the kicker shanked a potential game-winner during yesterday’s loss to the Steelers, coach Frank Reich told reporters that the Colts would be sticking with the 46-year-old.
“A lot of confidence, no plans to do anything different,” Reich said (via ESPN’s Mike Wells).
Reich even offered an explanation for the 43-yard kick that ended up sailing far left, noting that Vinatieri had to kick the ball with the laces facing him. While part of the blame could be placed on holder Rigoberto Sanchez, the veteran kicker noted that it was his job to convert the field goal attempt.
The future Hall-of-Famer has converted a career-low 70.6-percent of his field goal attempts (12-for-17) and 73.7-percent of his extra point attempts (14-for-19). There was some thought that Vinatieri could hang up his cleats following his early-season struggles, and the Colts ended up auditioning a number of free agent kickers. Considering we’re now in early November, there’s little chance the organization would look to make a change now.
While the Colts are struggling on special teams, the defense also took a hit today. Joel A. Erickson of the Indy Star tweets that rookie wideout Parris Campbell broke his hand. The second-rounder underwent a procedure, and the team won’t place him on the injured reserve right now.
One heck of a career. Plenty of kicks that’ll live in football lore.
Agreed. Still, it’s painful to watch a future Hall of Famer struggle in the twilight of his career.
Karma for one of the worst DPI on Nelson that I’ve ever seen. He should’ve never even gotten the opportunity to kick the FG.
The laces were in!
Laces out Dan!