At various points this season, kicker Adam Vinatieri looked washed up. No moment embodied the four-time Super Bowl winner's struggles more than the Week 10 game against the Chargers. With the Colts trailing 23-21 with just under two minutes to go, Vinatieri honked a 29-yard field-goal attempt.
And for a guy who was money from, well, anywhere on the field during his 10-year New England career, Vinatieri has been just a shade better than the guy he replaced last season, Mike Vanderjagt. Good news, though: after going 0-for-2007 on field-goal attempts of at least 40 yards (he was 0 for 3 in '07), Vinatieri striped a 46-yarder with 5:14 to go in the second quarter to give the Colts a 10-7 lead.
It's amazing that it's come to this -- praising a sure-to-be Hall of Famer for making a kick that should be automatic in the RCA Dome -- but here we are. During the previous three meetings against the Patriots, Vinatieri's been inconsistent, but assuming the Colts beat the Chargers (not a foregone conclusion by any means), he will be critical to Indianapolis' chances next week. Maybe the 46-yarder is the jump-start he needed ... or maybe it means nothing at all.
