Boston.com / Sports / Bruins

It was easy to bank on Vinatieri

By Michael Smith, Globe Staff, 2/4/2002

EW ORLEANS - After winning yet another game - the Biggest Game - with a field goal in the final seconds, it is clear now more than ever that Adam Vinatieri deserves not only a hefty pay increase when he signs his new contract, but to have his face placed on a unit of United States currency.

May we suggest the institution of the $4 bill?

''Adam is a money player,'' Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis said last night after Vinatieri's 48-yard field goal in the closing seconds of Super Bowl XXXVI won the Lombardi Trophy, 20-17, for the new America's Team, your World Champion New England Patriots. ''There are quarterbacks who are money players and defensive players who are money players. And he's a money player.''

''If you want a guy making the play at the end of the game,'' coach Bill Belichick said, ''Adam is the one.''

Vinatieri entered the season having made eight winning kicks in his first five seasons; he made five in 2001-02, including three in overtime and two of the biggest in NFL postseason history. Who ever will forget his line-drive, 45-yarder into a snowstorm that tied the score against Oakland Jan. 19, and the 23-yarder in OT that won the instant classic and made it possible for him to last night place himself alongside the Colts' Jim O'Brien (maker of a 32-yarder in the final five seconds of Super Bowl V, a moment of which Vinatieri was honest enough to admit his ignorance) as men who have fired shots heard 'round the world?

''Shoot, after he kicked one through the snow, I knew he could kick one through the confetti,'' said running back Antowain Smith, whose reference to the postgame euphoria wasn't as accurate as Vinatieri's aim.

Really, was there ever any doubt New England would pull it off once MVP Tom Brady hit Troy Brown for 23 yards to the St. Louis 36, then Jermaine Wiggins for 6 more? Vinatieri already had been a hero once when he made a 44-yarder in overtime to beat San Diego in Week 5, twice when he connected from 28 to beat the Jets in Week 12, three times over with a 23-yarder in overtime to beat Buffalo in Week 15, and elevated to legendary status with his clutch kicks vs. the Raiders.

A 48-yarder in the Superdome with a title on the line, for someone who, to that point, never had missed a field goal indoors in 24 career attempts?

[Yawn.]

''This one, it was an easy kick,'' Belichick said. ''It was a chip shot.''

''It's his year,'' Rams receiver Ricky Proehl said. ''He's made some big-time kicks. I was praying on the sideline that he would miss it, but deep down I knew he wouldn't. He's that kind of kicker. He's got a lot of confidence in himself, and he showed it through the playoffs and [last night].''

''I'll tell you what,'' said Vinatieri, who also made a 37-yarder with 1:18 to go in the third quarter for a 17-3 lead, ''I was just so happy that the guys moved the ball down and gave me an opportunity. It was great. The guys did such a great job all day. They blocked great up front; the snap and the hold was great. Once I kicked it, I knew it was good. I looked up and it was just time to celebrate. It was unbelievable.''

After Kurt Warner paved the way for the dramatic ending with a tying 26-yard touchdown pass to Proehl, Brady, hereby ordained as the new master of the two-minute drill, took over at his 17 with 1:21 to go and no timeouts. His eight history-scripting passes on The Drive went as follows: 5 yards to J.R. Redmond, 8 yards to Redmond, incomplete, 11 yards to Redmond, incomplete, 23 yards to Brown, 6 yards to Wiggins, and a spike that set the stage for the Patriots' Kicking Triumverate.

The three knew history was about to be made. Vinatieri cleared his mind of the situation, and he and punter/holder/new dad Ken Walter made eye contact.

''First and foremost it starts with [long-snapper] Lonie [Paxton] and the protection,'' said Walter. ''What a combination 66 [Paxton], 13 [Walter], and 4 [The Man] has been. We've been the best combination in football throughout the playoffs and in crunch time during the year. Being a part of that is something special and something I'll remember for the rest of my life.

''For it to come down to the whole world watching, for me to put that ball down from Lonie and Adam finishing it off, what a storybook year.''

An epic that, fittingly, was concluded by one of the tale's major protagonists.