People also forget that it is 2 AV MISSES that are responsible for Bill Bellichick being the HC of the New England Patriots. In 1999 Pete Carroll was fired after an injury riddled 8-8 record. But in 2 of those losses Adam missed makeable FG's at the end of games that would have tied or won them outright. If he had made those kicks the Pats would have finished 10-6, in the playoffs and Pete Carroll would have remained the HC, and BB would have wound up elsewhere, if not with the Jets.
So the next time you take the time to thank your lucky stars that BB has been our HC for the last 17 years, take moment to remember it might not have happened without those misses from Adam Viinatieri.
BTW- this article caused me to look at AV's stats and I noted something interesting. Stephan Gotskowski has a FG average of 87% for his career (and that's kicking almost all of his games outside in the NE). Currently he is at 83.3% and we are having caniption fits over those results. Literally endless threads demanding that replacements be found or at least have people brought in to compete. What I noted that in 10 years AV was with the Pats, SEVEN of those years, his completion percentage was LESS than that 83%.
Now AV is the greatest FG kicker in NFL history, a true HOFer, so I don't point this out to demean him. I point it out to demean those who are so ready to dump on a player for not doing badly, but just not as good as the absurdly high standard he's set for himself. Adam himself has had 3 seasons in Indy, in a dome, where he kicked at less than 80% (though his last 4 years have been unworldly)
