Don’t talk to Adam Vinatieri before he’s about to attempt a game-winning field goal.
The Indianapolis Colts and former New England Patriots kicker nailed his 26th game-winner in his 300th career game Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons. But before those big kicks, Vinatieri gets so focused that he doesn’t pay attention to anything else happening around him.
“When it’s a game-winning kick, Vinny’s, like, gone,” punter and holder Pat McAfee told the Indianapolis Star’s Gregg Doyel on Sunday. “He’s in a zone.”
Vinatieri doesn’t speak or hear anything around him before these kicks. He even said as much after the game.
“When it comes to a game-winner, I guess I don’t acknowledge Pat,” Vinatieri said.
But it’s more than that.
“You become soulless,” McAfee joked to Vinatieri.
It is strange the way Doyel describes Vinatieri’s focus. The 42-year-old kicker apparently didn’t realize one of his teammates had acknowledged him as he walked on to make his kick, and he only remembered when Doyel mentioned it.
“Oh, right,” Vinatieri said of the moment. “They were coming off the field, so it was an offensive player. It was — (wide receiver Donte) Moncrief, maybe. Yeah. Moncrief slapped my butt and said something like, ‘You got this.’ Or maybe, ‘This is what you do.’”
At the end of the day, though, as long as Vinatieri keeps nailing those game-winners, we’re sure no one minds what he does before he kicks them.
Thumbnail photo via Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports Images
