Adam Vinatieri

They say there are three things that go into winning a football game and they are offense, defense and special teams. When you talk about special teams, there are a few players that standout in the history of the game. Adam Vinatieri is absolutely one of them.

Adam played his college football at unheralded South Dakota State, which is not exactly a football factory. From there he went on to kick in NFL Europe for a year. It was in 1996 that he was signed by the New England Patriots and started his career as one of the most clutch kickers in NFL history. During his time with the Patriots, Adam went to four Super Bowls, winning three of them, including two games having last second field goals made by Adam himself. Also, the first Super Bowl the Patriots won wouldn’t even have happened if Adam doesn’t make a kick to send the divisional playoff game into overtime. It was a kick in a driving snowstorm with at least four inches of snow on the turf from 45 yards out, a kick that Adam himself would only make once out of every 10 tries.

After the Patriots, Adam signed as a free agent signed with the Indianapolis Colts due to the fact that he can make the kicks when it counts the most. It was during his time with the Colts that Adam got his fourth Super Bowl win against the Chicago Bears in 2006. Seeing as how a kicker’s career in the NFL can last as much as 20 years, Adam can keep kicking for a very long time and possibly end up being not just one of the most well-known clutch kickers, but also one of the best to ever play in the NFL.