Adam Vinatieri vividly remembers his last game against Morten Andersen.
Andersen had already logged more than 20 seasons in the NFL Ryan McDonagh Jersey , was well into his 40s, nearing the end of his career and still kicking as well as anyone in the league. Back then, Vinatieri marveled at how the seemingly ageless Andersen managed to excel for so long.
Now, more than a decade later, Vinatieri finds himself grinding through his 23rd NFL training camp, hoping to join the NFL's career scoring leader in the Hall of Fame. Andersen was inducted last year.
"I would have liked to have seen a handful more kickers and punters make it in there, but finally getting a second kicker in and Ray Guy getting in, it's good that we have some representation in there because those guys did a lot for the league," the Indianapolis Colts kicker said.
Andersen's induction last year provided hope to specialists such as Vinatieri that they, too, could be headed to Canton, Ohio, one day.
Until Andersen's selection, Vinatieri wasn't sure. The only one other "pure" kicker to earn pro football's highest distinction was Jan Stenerud in 1991. Guy was elected in 2014 Mark Stone Jersey , ending the shutout for punters.
Some believe Vinatieri could be next.
His sterling resume glistens with Hall of Fame credentials: four Super Bowl rings, the league record for 100-point seasons (20) and second all-time in career scoring (2,487 points). Anderson finished with 2,544 and Vinatieri needs 58 points to break the record, which could happen at midseason if all goes well.
He owns the career record for scoring in postseason games (234), is the only player to top 1,000 points and make 200 field goals with two teams, has celebrated a league-record 225 victories, including playoffs, and made a league-high 44 consecutive field goals. If Vinatieri completes this season, he would become only the third 46-year-old player to suit up for an NFL team.
His highlight reel contains some of the most memorable kicks in league history: two last-minute field goals to win Super Bowls and the tying and winning kicks in the infamous Snow Bowl, which helped New England win the first of its five Lombardi Trophies. He has been dubbed the best clutch kicker in league history and there's no indication "Automatic Adam" is slowing down.
"It's ridiculous," holder Rigoberto Sanchez said. "It's honestly out of this world, I think. Twenty-three years in the league http://www.officialflames.com/authentic-adidas-jaromir-jagr-jersey , still kicking the ball the way he kicks it, 60 yards out in practice. It's unreal."
Just how much has Vinatieri seen and done during his career?
He is the last link to the NFL's developmental league in Europe, the one Andrew Luck's father worked with, and one of only two players left from the 1990s. Former teammate Phil Dawson is the other.
Vinatieri joined the league before former teammates Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, still reminds people he once tackled Herschel Walker and acknowledges missing on Desmond Howard and Devin Hester as they returned his kickoffs for Super Bowl scores.
He played for Hall of Fame coaches Bill Parcells and Tony Dungy, in addition to Bill Belichick. His newest coach, Frank Reich, actually threw for 281 yards against the Patriots during Vinatieri's rookie season in 1996.
Somehow, though, he remains the epitome of consistency.
Last year, with a new long snapper and a new holder, Vinatieri still made 85.3 percent of his field goals and scored 109 points and now he's back with his oldest son, A.J., serving as a ball boy at training camp.
"It comes to a point where Adam is Mr. Clutch over here Ondrej Kase Jersey , so (long snapper) Luke (Rhodes) just tries to do his job right and get the 12 o'clock laces and I try to get the ball in the spot that he likes and let him do the rest," said Sanchez, who wasn't even born until a week after Vinatieri's NFL debut in 1996. "He's been kicking it straight for a long time."
Despite the honors, the nicknames and the Hall of Fame predictions, Vinatieri knows he may still need more to follow the kicker he has been watching since his younger days in South Dakota into the NFL's most hallowed halls.
"I don't think it hurts, that's for sure," Vinatieri said. "It's one of those things that I haven't really though too much about it. I'm still just trying to help my team win games and keep on putting chapters in this book and if that happens, fantastic."
NOTES: The Colts have activated starting safeties Clayton Geathers and Malik Hooker from the physically unable to perform list Thursday. Both were coming off knee surgery. ... Guard Jeremy Vujnovich also was activated from PUP. He had been out with an injured calf after starting all 16 games last season.
Oddsmakers like the chances of Tom Brady winning a sixth Super Bowl ring, making the New England Patriots nearly a touchdown favorite to beat the Philadelphia Eagles.
Sports books around Las Vegas opened the Patriots around a 6-point favorite Sunday to win their second straight Super Bowl. They also made New England a big favorite to win the Super Bowl next year in Atlanta.
But the closest thing to a lock in this gambling city is that betting on this Super Bowl will smash the existing record of $138.5 million set just last year.
”Sports betting couldn’t be more popular than it is now,” said Jay Kornegay of the Westgate Las Vegas sports book. ”That combined with the fan base of the Eagles and the strong economy will mean a record handle on this game.”
Bookmakers posted their opening lines early in the fourth quarter of the Eagles-Vikings game, with lines ranging between 5 and 6 1/2 points. The over/under in most books for total points scored in the game was 48.
Bettors didn’t take long to weigh in themselves, with one gambler taking the 6 points and putting a big bet on the Eagles at the South Point resort before their rout of the Minnesota Vikings was even over.
”Our first bet was $10,000 on the Eagles,” said Jimmy Vaccaro Alex Pietrangelo Jersey Kids , oddsmaker at the South Point.
Bettors jammed into sports books Sunday for the two conference championship games, with millions wagered in person and millions more bet on phone apps. Bookmakers had a good day, with most winning money on both games.
That shouldn’t change in the Super Bowl, where bookmakers have turned a profit every time except the 2008 game when the New York Giants upset the previously unbeaten and 12-point favorite Patriots.
At the Westgate, Kornegay said the opening line of the Patriots minus-5.5 points was made knowing there would be money coming in from both the Eagles’ rabid fan base and by bettors who simply have a dislike for the dominance of Brady and the Patriots.
”This is the only event where we make a line that depends on public opinion,” Kornegay said. ”There’s so much more money from the public on this game than you would get from the so-called sharks. They come in here and they just don’t want to root for the Patriots.”
Unlike the games preceding it, a lot of the money on the Super Bowl comes from so-called ”prop” bets that often crossover to other sports. Some of the bigger sports books will put up several hundred prop bets later this week that will include the coin flip and other possibilities that having nothing to do with the final score of the game.
”It’s much easier to do lots of props with Brady,” Vaccaro said. ”Either you love him or you hate him. Half the people bet on him to see him win and half bet to see him lose.”
One of the more popular prop bets is whether there will be a safety in the game, and Vaccaro said about $15,000 was wagered on either side of that prop even before the second game ended Sunday.
Oddsmakers at the William Hill chain also made the Patriots a 9-2 favorite to win next year’s Super Bowl in Atlanta, followed by the Eagles at 17-2.
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