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- Mar 19, 2019
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INDIANAPOLIS — Adam Vinatieri’s 24th NFL season might not have finished the way he or his team would have hoped, but even with knee surgery on the horizon, the future Hall of Famer isn’t ruling out a 25th season just yet.
That’s according to Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich, who confirmed Monday in his weekly conference call with local reporters that Vinatieri was being placed on injured reserve, ending his season, after dealing with a left knee injury.
Reich said he’s yet to have a “long heart-to-heart” conversation with Vinatieri about his future plans, but based off a report today from FOX59/CBS4’s Mike Chappell, in which Vinatieri mentions that his upcoming surgery might not necessarily signal the end of his playing career, the Colts’ head coach said he wouldn’t be surprised at all if No. 4 was kicking once again in 2020.
“It is my understanding that Adam’s mindset is he is not done,” Reich said. “That doesn’t surprise me. I mean, I love that. That guy inspires me.
“Adam is unique in that way, it is one of the things that makes him the greatest of all-time.”
Vinatieri’s left knee issues began in training camp, and with undrafted rookie Cole Hedlund available on the 90-man roster to handle kicking duties, Vinatieri would miss several camp practices and participated in just one of the team’s four preseason games.
That rest, Vinatieri said recently, helped get him ready for the regular season, but the pain returned during pregame warmups prior to the Colts’ Week 13 matchup against the Tennessee Titans. Reich said last week Vinatieri “gutted it out, was fine … did what he had to do to get through the game,” but that it was obvious the pain wasn’t going away as the team began preparations for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Vinatieri last Wednesday landed on the team’s injury report for the first time all season; he was listed as a limited participant on Wednesday and did not practice on Thursday or Friday before being ruled out the Buccaneers game. He was inactive on Sunday for the first time in almost 10 years, a span of more than 3,500 days.
After undergoing an MRI on his knee, a joint decision was made to shut the legendary kicker down for the remainder of the season.
“Obviously, Adam’s injury was monitored, talked about with Adam, with the doctors, and this is just the right thing to do for Adam,” Reich said today.
Vinatieri this season connected on 17-of-25 (68 percent) of his field goal tries, and 22-of-28 (78.6 percent) of his extra-point attempts. He was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week back in Week 8 after hitting two 50-plus-yard field goals, including the game winner from 51 yards out, in the Colts’ 15-13 victory over the Denver Broncos at Lucas Oil Stadium.
The NFL’s all-time leader in points scored (2,673) and field goals made (599) and attempted (715), Vinatieri has connected on 336-of-394 (85.3 percent) of his field goals and 507-of-524 (96.8 percent) of his extra-point attempts during his 14 seasons with the Colts, and has hit 599-of-715 (83.8 percent) field goals and 874-of-898 (97.3 percent) of his extra-point tries total over the course of his 24-year NFL career.