If you’ve ever been to New England, you know that the region views professional sports as a religion and worships its sports heroes as if they were legendary deities.
Larry Bird, Bobby Orr, David Ortiz and of course Tom Brady are among these legends, but there’s another Patriot who seems to be in the same light as those, and it’s Adam Vinatieri.
And now, the entire NFL world sees him that way too.
.@AdamVinatieri is one of the 6 specialists selected to the #NFL100 All-Time Team!
🐐 4x Super Bowl Champion
🐐 Career: 599 FG made (715 attempts), 2,673 points scored
🐐 Most FG attempts, FGs made and points in NFL history pic.twitter.com/mdnmZdZu28— NFL (@NFL) December 7, 2019
Vinatieri is the first active player to be named to the NFL 100 lists and with good reason.
It’s impossible to forget seeing Vinatieri line up to kick that 45-yarder in the now-infamous “Tuck Rule” game while snow fell around him. That’s an image that’ll go down in NFL history.
That kick combined with his Super Bowl-winning 48-yarder against the Rams launched an era of dominance that would last 20 years. Patriots fans will never forget what he’s done for their organization.
Vinatieri has been in the league for an astounding 24 seasons and while his career seems to be coming to an end, no one can deny that he is the greatest clutch kicker this league has ever seen.
Four Super Bowls, three All-Pro selections, three times Pro Bowler and now NFL Top 100 kicker. Congratulations, Adam Vinatieri.
