TRANSCRIPT: Interview with Patriots Kicker Adam Vinatieri
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Posted Under: 2000 Patriots Season
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Here’s a transcript from my recent interview with New England Patriots kicker, Adam Vinatieri:
Talk about the offseason a little bit, tell us about some of the things you’ve been up to. Have you gone anywhere or done anything?
Well the offseason went extremely fast this year it seemed. Our coaches had us come back a little sooner this year, which is good because we do need to get back on track and stuff. I did do a little traveling, I took a nice little cruise in the Carribean, and went up to Niagra Falls. So I’ve been doing a little traveling, and enjoying the offseason, but it seems like it’s over already.
The offseason workout started on March 20th. What’s entaled in those workouts? Do you guys have a schedule? What exactly is involved?
Well we go in different phases. This is Phase 1 right now which covers about the next six weeks, and that’s basically lifting and running for conditioning. So it’s mostly getting back into shape, getting back to where you need to be physically, and getting you’re conditioning back. Then the closer you get to the season, it becomes a new phase, and that becomes a little more in-depth in different aspects of actual football. But this first phase is mostly just lifting and running.
Are these [workouts] any different from what you used to do under Johnny Parker?
It is a little bit different. There’s different techniques and different forms and stuff, but for the most part it’s running and lifting weights. There are different exercises that we do, different repetitions and stuff. But for the most part it’s a lot similar in the sense that, lifting is lifting.
When you guys had your first meeting with Bill Belichick, what was the atmosphere like in there?
I think it was really good. He came in with a real go-getter attitude and he’s making sure everybody’s focused this offseason. He wants to have everybody back working hard and getting ready for the season. It looked really good, everybody is really excited and fired up for the season to start, and I think he’s going to get everybody off on the right track.
I remember reading an article where Ty Law said when he walked into the room, everyone was silent. Any truth to that?
Absolutely. Everybody gave him the due respect that he deserves. You could just feel the atmosphere, everyone was serious about getting back to work. It was really good, and I’m looking forward to it.
You had a chance to play for him back in ’96. Is there anything you recall about him from that season?
He was our defensive backs coach, so he and I didn’t have too much contact with eachother. He is a very hard worker, and he always had our DB’s ready to go. He really knows defense well, and he’s worked a lot on special teams also. So although he’s a defensive minded coach, he brought in the guys on the offensive side that will really help us out too. So I’m really looking forward to it, I think he’s going to be a real go getter and it should be very exciting.
How does he seem compared to coach Parcells?
Well, you know like I said, I haven’t had too much experience with coach Belichick yet, so it’s hard to say right now. I’m sure once it gets closer to the season, and once the season starts, I’ll be able to give you a better comparison with that. But he has a lot of the same attitudes, he’s very serious about his job, he’s very professional, he really wants to to get us off on the right track, so those things are very similar about the two of them.
Last year you had a tough season. You had to deal with adversity, really for the first time in your career after the Kansas City game. How difficult was that?
It was tough. It was one of those things that you never ever want to miss one like that, but the longer you’re in the league it happens to everybody type of thing. By no means am I making excuses, I need to hit that, and who knows how the season would have turned out if that one would have been made. But I’m going to get back to work and get back on track. It’s something that you have to remember in the sense that you want it to make you better, but then you have to get it out of your head and not dwell on the makes or the misses.
You got quite a bit of support from a lot of the guys, and they really stood behind you after the game. Was there anybody in particular that you remember that came up to you and said anything that stands out in your mind?
Well like you said everybody came up and said, “Hey Adam, we win as a team and we lose as a team. If we would have did this, maybe this would have made a difference….” I remember [Drew] Bledsoe really sticking up for me during interviews saying ‘we should have never had him in that situation anyway’. Everybody was really good, and that’s the great thing about our team is everybody stays together as a team no matter if one person does something really good or really bad, whatever the situation may be everybody sticks together, and it’s a team win or a team loss.
After you stop and take a look at last season, you weren’t the only one that struggled. There were other kickers out there such as Gary Anderson, Pete Stoyanovich, etc., a lot of them really had a different season than they were used to. There were some kicks that they would normally have made that didn’t go. Looking back, do you think that the new K-Ball rule may have played a factor?
I think so. Obviously it’s one of those things that, I don’t know what the kicking percentage is, but I believe that it dropped 5% to 8% or 9% percent. I’m not exactly sure on those stats, but I know that kicking percentages dropped. Now is that in direct correlation with the K-Ball? I think so because in the past few years stats have been getting better every year, now all of a sudden they drop a little bit, and I think it has a lot to do with the new K-Ball. Teams are going to have to know that if they’re going to keep that rule, then that’s what’s going to happen. If you have a few more misses, every once in a while they’re going to come at an inopportune time, and a game might be won or lost because of it. So it’s a tough situation, but I think that the longer the balls are in, the sooner we’ll get used to them, we’ll get adapted to them a little bit better, and everything will be O.K.
It was a different season for you last year, you had your best friend Tom Tupa, he left during the offseason, and then you had Lee Johnson arrive. Can you describe your relationship with Lee, and was there any memories or any occurances from last season that stand out in your mind?
He’s a wild and crazy man. He’s a great guy, he just has a ton of energy and that’s what’s fun. You never have a down moment with him, he’s always excited, he’s always funny, he’s always cracking jokes and stuff, so he keeps it pretty exciting. Like I said Tom’s a great guy too, and those two are both great athletes and seasoned veterans, but [they have] different temperaments and different attitudes between the two guys. Lee acts like he’s a six year old kid, and that’s what makes it fun.
Like Tupa going into the offseason last year you were a free agent (restricted free agent anyway), you got an offer from Cleveland, did you ever feel during that time that you might not be back in New England?
I was hoping I could stay a New England Patriot. I like it around here, I like the guys that we have around here, and I’ve said it before, I’d like to be a New England Patriot for my entire career. But obviously that was kind of up to them in the sense that Cleveland made me an offer, and it came back to the Patriots to see if whether or not they wanted to act on that. So the ball kind of landed in their court, they made me a nice offer and everybody was happy, and I was happy to stay around. I’ve got two years left on my contract, but when that time comes up I would really like to stay a Patriot for longer than that.
You have a new season coming up and a chance for a fresh start. What are some of the things you’re going to be working on during the offseason, and what would you like to improve on heading into the season?
Well you know obviously whenever you miss a field goal, if you’re 39-of-40 or 99-of-100, you always have room for improvement. So until you can have that perfect season, there’s always room for improvement on that, as well as obviously working with those K-balls and trying to get a little bit more consistent. The K-Balls are also taking a little bit of hang-time and distance off your kick-offs, and punters are having a little more trouble with that too. So I’m going to try and work a lot on that this offseason with them, and try to see if I can maybe even increase some distance and hangtime on my kick-offs and try to also increase my consistentcy on my field goals. So needless to say, there will be a lot of work.
What’s your outlook on the 2000 season? If you look at the parity around the league after last season, you almost have to believe that you guys have really just as good a shot as anyone to win a championship.
Like you said, even in the AFC East last year [things were different]. During the 1998 season Indianapolis was at the bottom and the Jets were at the top, now all of a sudden you look, and it’s the other way around — Indianapolis is at the top and both us and the Jets were at the bottom. Two years before that we were winning the AFC Championship, so that’s just the way things work out. Take St. Louis for example — the year before they didn’t have a very good record, and now they win a Superbowl. With the way the NFL is now with the salary caps and the way free agents move around, every year is different. [How competitive we are] will depend on who else we bring in to fill some of the holes we have, but I think coach Belichick will get us back on track and I’m looking forward to a successful season this year.
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