Don't Worry Gostkowski, Even Adam Vinatieri Had Tough Moments

[PatsFans.com Article]

Don't Worry Gostkowski, Even Adam Vinatieri Had Tough Moments
By: Ian Logue

Former Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri once missed a game winning kick, but he went on to great things and hopefully the same holds true for Stephen Gostkowski....

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[brdmaverick]

Ah yes, I remember that game in Kansas City that would have been a great comeback charge led by Drew Bledsoe but alas was not to be.

Another tough game for Vinatieri. Do you recall Adam's first game back to Gillette after defecting to the Colts? He missed not 1 but 2 field goals including one in the fourth quarter that would have iced the game. Instead, the Pats got the ball back only down by 1 score. Of course, the Pats failed to capitalize on this opportunity which is why his misses were somewhat downplayed.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

This is the kick I alluded to in the Ghostowski clutch thread. Nobody's trying to take away from AV, this just proves that no kicker is infallible. There's a few other big kicks that AV missed but don't get talked about due to the team prevailing anyways. At this point in Ghost's career, he has not been put in the spots AV was put in so it's pointless to compare the two or talk about Ghost being 'unclutch'. Until he fails consistently in those spots I have faith in the guy, every clutch kick I've seen him attempt before Sunday he has made.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

This is the kick I alluded to in the Ghostowski clutch thread. Nobody's trying to take away from AV, this just proves that no kicker is infallible. There's a few other big kicks that AV missed but don't get talked about due to the team prevailing anyways. At this point in Ghost's career, he has not been put in the spots AV was put in so it's pointless to compare the two or talk about Ghost being 'unclutch'. Until he fails consistently in those spots I have faith in the guy, every clutch kick I've seen him attempt before Sunday he has made.

Unless one has a personal agenda against Gostkowski, that's the only rational view to take. He has never been tested the way AV was tested (since his walkoff winner in SB XXXVI was the first of its kind in an SB, it's fair to say that few have been so tested and Snow Bowls only come around once in a lifetime).

All we can fairly say about Steve Gostkowski at this point is that he is a consistently very good Placekicker who has put up some really impressive stats in just five and a half seasons of regular play. Tearing him down for Sunday's miss or even for his next big miss is unfair and unwarranted.

And, even at the end of his career, it will probably be unfair to judge him against Number Four, who has pretty much punched his ticket to Canton (by coincidence, at least as of the time I am posting this, the front page of the NFL HOF website features a picture of Adam after his 53 yard kick to win Sunday's game) and who will be judged with Stenerud as perhaps the greatest of all time at his position (pure Placekicker, before you George Blanda and Lou Groza fans jump all over me).

 

[upstater1]

Vinatieri's kick in the snow against the Raiders is the greatest kick of all-time. The fact he made it means he was immortalized.

That being said, I hate it when opposing fans say Vinatieri won all three Super Bowls for the Patriots. In one of those SBs, he actually missed two field goals.

 

[brdmaverick]

Vinatieri's kick in the snow against the Raiders is the greatest kick of all-time. The fact he made it means he was immortalized.

That being said, I hate it when opposing fans say Vinatieri won all three Super Bowls for the Patriots. In one of those SBs, he actually missed two field goals.

For that matter it would seem silly to suggest a kicker was the main reason for a team winning ANY game.

 

[patfanken]

Vinatieri's kick in the snow against the Raiders is the greatest kick of all-time. The fact he made it means he was immortalized.

That being said, I hate it when opposing fans say Vinatieri won all three Super Bowls for the Patriots. In one of those SBs, he actually missed two field goals.

Adam missed his share of critical FG's. The 2 in the Carolina Super Bowl stand out, because without them, there is no last second FG.

But people also forget that he had 2 misses at the end games in the 1999 season which literally cost Pete Carroll his job. BB has Adam to thank for his hiring because if Adam makes those 2 FG's, the Pats are `10-6 instead of 8-8, and the whole BB era would have been happening somewhere else.

2 kicks that hit the upright and the last 13 years would have been an illusion. BB might have even put up with a year or 2 with Parcells as GM and the last 13 years might have happened to the Jets