Pats from the Past, Episode 43: Adam Vinatieri

Yeah, it's time now for another episode of Packs from the Past podcast Matt Smith.

Along with a hall Throllo. We're pleased to be joined by soon to be I don't know when you're retired.

I can't remember, so I don't I can't do math. Looks he looks pretty good. But former Patriots kicker and soon to be Hall of Fame kicker. We all hope Adam Vanitary. Adam, thank you so much for coming here and joining us.

My pleasure. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, what a what an introduction. Thank you.

Well, let's tell fans what you're up to these days. What are you?

What is Adam Vanitary doing to keep himself busy these days?

Well, because you just retired, like last week, right, a couple.

Of years now, I've been really enjoying some family life. It's when you're when you're fifty now and just not too long retired, you get you get to do a lot of fun stuff. So been coaching both of my sons in football and baseball, and and just really just just kind of embracing the the opportunities of doing some stuff that I never had the opportunity.

To do before.

So get into the honeydew list, get into stuff that I've put off for years, and kind of just chipping away at some things that I wanted to do a lot of traveling. Have a ranch out in Missouri, so I'd do a bunch of hunting and fishing and traveling and doing some of that stuff. So just enjoying some free time, and it's nice. It took me a long time to reprogram my mind into the not get up in the morning, get you a cup of coffee on.

The way to work, and doing all the you know, it really took me about.

Two or three years to decompress from football schedule and be able to watch the news and drinking cup of coffee at a slower pace. I guess so's it's kind of been a fun, fun transition for me.

I think Patriot fans and football fans alike back in February when the Super Bowl was around, they saw the fan duel commercials and they said, well, who's this person. That's not Adam Van Terry. That's not the guy I remember. So I think people a lot of people were going, wow, look at and we'll talk about more of this later, but you've sort of you informed yourself from the skinny

I don't know about that, but yeah, I've had a lot of free time to stay in shape. My oldest son is twenty years old trying to get into a little bit of this influencing stuff. So he's kind of been pushing me, helping me with diet. And you know, boy, I tell you what, it's one of these things I am hold on for dear life.

He's shooting this away and so.

He doesn't have me yet, but he's not not far off, so I'm I think he helps me.

It's probably that.

Competitive nature too that you have in football, and it's fun kind of just doing some stuff that way too. And and you know, I've always said like people are like, you know, why why do you want to do this? And the tongue in cheek answer is, hey, you know what, when I get out of the shower, I want to look better naked than I do with my clothes on.

And then it sounds silly and it's not.

Really, but at the end of the day, you know, you know, at some point I'm going to continue to keep getting older, and I just I just want to feel good. I want to I want to keep my body in shape. I want to be able to do a bunch of stuff. And and looking in the mirror and being proud of the hard work that you continue to do is important to me.

Well, you should, shouldn't he look? He should be very proud of how he looks in the mirror.

Are you saying that you were? I'm proud of how we look.

No, I didn't say that, but that's what.

Yeah.

Whatever, So with the I'm interested to coaching the kids too, And you mentioned they're little old.

How did you get a little.

Bit of a coaching bug? Did you like that?

Well?

You know, yeah, well, well, and that's the fun thing. Well, and that's the fun thing. High school plays on Friday nights, and you know, you're always kind of one of these you know, you go to a game, but and you want to be part of it, but you're always thinking about your own football stuff, and and you know you're traveling on the weekend.

And and you miss out on some of the stuff. So when they were young, I coached him in some.

Soccer and stuff in the off season in the summertime when you had some time. But but I really enjoyed trying to help young and impressionable kids, you know, teach them football, teach them, teach them all the right stuff, you know, like how to take pride in your job.

The National Football League. There's lots of lessons.

To be learned, and teaching them football the x's and o's is one thing, but teaching them how to be accountable and how to help your team win, and hey, this stuff is important.

You know.

In high school there's so many things. There's so many things that are pulling them in different directions. If it's school girls, parties, this that, and all that stuff, and you're like, hey, you know, you get one shot at this, you know, you might have X amount of years and teaching them. Hey listen, not many guys get to play in college. Not many guys even even a lot less

And we've had some success. Their teams have been to some of the state championships and stuff. So it's I get that competitive side. I'm not on the field.

It's more stressful for me not being able to contribute on the field, you know, trying to teach these kids that way.

But but I enjoy it.

And then my younger son is only is going into eighth grade. He's the he's he's a wild man. He's the redheaded crazy kid. Where he got the color, I don't know, but but it's just so much fun teaching those young kids and watching them grow and mature and all that stuff.

So I love it. I I you know, it's not not getting paid to do it, and it's not why.

You do it.

It's it's for the love of the game, and it truly is and and I think it's a ton of fun.

It's awesome that you're able to do that with your kids. And this one is a little bit different and probably not a name of familiar to Patriot fans. Letst They really did a deep dive into your career at him, But it's kind of similar like Doug Blevins, Like he didn't have to help you, and I don't know how instrumental he was in your career and maybe to help set the stage before you do. Here's a guy who is teaching a future Hall of Fame kicker how to kick,

Yeah, So my senior year in college, I would say that people would say that he was raw. He had good leg strength and power, but he was still raw.

Right. I didn't never got.

Really any real coaching other than what I learned on my own. You know, kick a ball and figure it out on your own. There's not that many kicking coaches out there, and even as many as there is, I think there's half of them that actually know what they're talking about.

Right.

So I met Brian Hanson who was a guy that was from South Dakota that was the punter for the Jets, who had known Doug and working out with him.

He said, hey, go go goach this guy out. You know, he's passionate about it. He's pretty smart.

Went out and worked out with Doug and he said, you should move out here and work with me. And so I moved to Abingdon, Virginia, got a job waiting tables and helping the high school team out there, just so I had a place to work out and kick

You know, it's pretty pretty neat.

But having along the way, I mean, there's so many, you know, there's so many people that helped along the way.

Obviously, have a great family and parents who who.

Took care of me and gave me what I needed and taught me their true life lessons. But coaches and you know, friends and people, you know, I mean, there's a million people that you can thank for.

The success that you have. I'm not just talking to me.

Anybody in life you could probably look at that way too, But Doug was definitely helped helped me develop my skills to the level that I needed to get to and then from there.

So what was that experience?

Like, you get to meet Doug and you find out he's got a little bit of a different circumstances, Matt said, you know, not a guy that you would expect to be a kicking expert in the situation that he was in.

When we first thought he had cerebral palsy.

Uh.

I get to the airport, don't know that he's in a wheelchair, gets wheeled up to me. Hey, Adam, great to meet you, you know, crippled hand and all this, and I thought I was getting punked. Honestly, I was like looking around, like this has got to be a joke, right, But we later that day we went out onto the field and he was he was a kicking coach and in a wheelchair with a linebacker mentality right like he was.

He was always fired up, always had a great attitude.

Always wanted a go go, go, go go, and so I knew within minutes that he not only knew what he was talking about, but I knew right away that we were going to have a good relationship, you know, moving forward. So spent the week with him, and he said, you know what, I think you got what it takes, but you need some fine tuning. And he said, you know, how bad do you want it? I said more than anything. He said, pack up, you know, give a two week notice, pack up your stuff and come out here get a job.

We'll work together for as long as it takes.

So gave my two week notice and he expected me there like three days later. I drove through the night, got there in less than a day, and you know, his wife goes to check the newspaper or whatever and sees that my truck is parked.

You know, I'm sleeping in my truck.

I didn't want to wake anybody up when I got there at three o'clock in the morning. But yeah, he you know, he told the stories like man, when when I saw that, I knew you were committed.

So together we did some great things.

What was the experience like in Europe?

You know, patriots are obviously going to be heading to Germany this year, but Amsterdam different kind of league.

You know what am I getting myself into here?

So I loved it.

I loved my experience in Europe. A lot of the guys who got allocated, so it was kind of one of these most guys got allocated. I just got drafted by the admirals to go and play there. The guys that got allocated had probably a different idea. It's like, oh man, you're you're demoting me to the minor leagues and they didn't really want to do that.

For me, it was a stepping stone.

I was like, this might be the best opportunity that I'm going to have to and.

It's professional football.

Now we're not getting paid a ton of money, but you're getting to see a bunch of different countries.

You have a day off. I jumped on the train, went sight Seed on my day off. I thought it was awesome.

The level of football was another bump up from what I was used to at the college level. And I sat there and I was like, Hey, this is my opportunity to show these NFL teams what I am about what I have and so it was great because it was a truly professional thing. You're not going to class anymore. You're not worried about grades and all. This this is about your skill on the football field. And fortunately for me, it worked out pretty well and did pretty well.

And you know, the.

Patriots and the Colts were the two teams that were really interested in me, and Mike's men was a special teams coach that I talked to every week when I was over there, and he said, listen, we've got an older kicker, Matt Barr. He said, we just signed Tom Tupez a punter. We don't have a guy that can kick off, and we need a guy. And they said, we're going to bring in a couple of rookies. The best one is going to get a job. That's what I was told. And I said, well, I'll roll the

It worked out.

They ended up cutting those guys and it was just Matt and I and we were competing.

For the job.

And and Bill Parcells after the before the third preseason game, he said.

If I can say this or not, he said, well, this.

Kind of PG right, he said. He walked up, you know, before the meetings, and he said, hey, Adam.

This is the deal. Tomorrow. You're gonna take all the kicks. You're gonna take all the field goals, extra points, kickoffs.

He said, see if you got what it takes, or if you pack up your ship and go home. I said, he said, you are right with that? I said, yes, sir, had a good game. And they cut Matt bar the next day and I didn't even didn't even know. I walked into the building the next day feeling pretty good that I kicked pretty well in the game, and and he called me into his office and he says, I don't want to hear anything in the media about you beat out Matt and this. And at this point I

Right, and and we'll get to that in a second.

But I mean, I don't look at that is I mean, bars A Parcels.

Guys, that's a Bill.

Guy and so favorite all.

Time kicker, right, And so he's a really good player. Plus he's really tight with the coach.

So not only do you have to outperform, you've got to like trouble or triple outperform to beat out his guy. And I wonder if that was going through your mind as you're doing this or is it just competition?

I you know, the way I was told that you're going to be the kickoff specialist this year, and then all of a sudden, as can't progressed along, they start letting me go head to head against Matt. And I think, listen, all the respect in the world to Matt Barr, great kicker, did amazing things. As stats speak for himself. I learned a lot from just watching him. I think it was one of those perfect storm situations where you know he was getting older, and he didn't quite have the same

I remember tupa saying, man, we know if I liked you or not because you were I don't know if he said arrogant, but I wasn't backing down. I guess this is my thing.

And so so we get into camp and the first thing that I'd do is I'd know that, hey, outside of forty five, Matt doesn't have much of a leg, so I'd warm up.

I'd go right outside of.

Fifty and hit every kick fifty fifty four, fifty six, just to say I got more right. So that's the difference. And I don't think that that was I don't know. Maybe Coach Parcels maybe was like, well, we'll give him a shot and if he sucks, we'll bring back Matt.

You know.

I don't know what the thought was.

But I'm just happy to have the opportunity to show my.

Skills because I don't know if I don't remember if it was week one or week two and we're talking ninety six two week two in Buffalo, and you missed three.

Missed the extra point two field goals.

Yeah, so that's the old NFL line. Not for long were you feeling any of that at that point?

For sure?

No, I felt that that day, every day before, and every single day of.

My career after. Like, I never felt comfortable.

And not to say that I didn't feel comfortable, because I was confident later on in my career, my skill level and all that, but I was always like, hey, listen, don't ever get complacent. Work your butt off every single day off seasons. Make sure you're doing all the stuff with the training staff in the weight room and eating right.

So I understood the game.

I understood, so I never felt like I was overly comfortable. Now, you know, a couple of Super Bowl kicks in a few years later, I don't think that there you're.

Not weake to weak. But on the other side, I.

Always felt like I always every single year I had to reprove myself. And maybe that's why I played as long as I did, because I never felt like anything was guaranteed.

So now you go to week three in Jacksonville and you don't have all those Super Bowl kicks on your resume.

L So did you feel like you were a weak to week? I think you made four.

I know Parcells said I was weak to week, so I mean, I didn't want to listen to the media, but I knew what that meant. And thank goodness, I think I made five kicks and a game winner at the end of the game, and you know, yeah, and overtime and and that kind of built a little confidence and kind of gave me a little bit and the

I think that week I needed it.

That fanboy Paul was at that game.

I remember being in a parking lot waiting to go to a wedding and staying in the car, going I can't I'm not gonna leave until he makes this kick, which.

I was confident in.

Let's fast forward a little bit that year, Adham and we're talking about kicking, and that's what your role is and nobody expects the kicker to be able to make a tackle, get in the way maybe if he can.

Do you think that that play?

You know, I don't know what people think that are kickers, but my guess is linebackers, a defensive lineman look at you a far different way than maybe the rest of the team. Did you get a sense at that point in time that your teammates are, oh, maybe this isn't just a kicker, whatever that means.

Do you know what I mean? I do?

Yeah, you know, I kicked the ball. He takes off and he breaks open, you know, and I'm sitting there going, oh, my gosh, you know, like he's got.

A lane to the end zone.

And I remember turning and running and unfortunately I wasn't that close. To him, and I didn't really have an angle on him, and I just start running and I just remember to myself, I'm like, I'm not gonna let him get to the end zone. And good lord, gave me ten seconds of speed. Maybe I don't know how it happened, but he wasn't slowing down, but I was catching.

A little bit of ground, a little bit of ground, and.

I ended up tackling him at the twenty something yard line or whatever same to touchdown. We end up losing twelve to six. I think it was all field goals in that game. And I remember probably the greatest compliment coach Barcelsa ever gave me. It was right after that game and he said, listen, that was one of the best players I've ever seen.

He said, your team is going to treat you differently because of it.

Now I had no idea what that meant, but I think I earned a little bit of respect, not just how he's our kicker. He's like, this dude cares about the team, and he did, you know, that's a great play, and and like I should And it wasn't. It wasn't about that. It was always just about like, hey, how can I contribute how can I help the team and what can I do to ultimately save a touchdown and

Maybe a little bit.

At that point I was going to say, did would Parcels say, did that materialize?

Yeah?

For sure, I do remember a bunch of guys after that, like the following day, the Monday meetings that we're watching. You you always have a team meeting and then you break right into special teams and you watch all the special team stuff, and you know, coach made a Coachwatman made a comment about it, and guys like, dude, that's that was awesome. That was like I tell yeah, dude,

Demanding, easier.

For sure, I don't I don't get broken up and beat up and leading all over the place stuff. But I didn't want them to think that I didn't care any less. So I mean, it was always a challenge for me, Like the competitive nature was always like, Hey, I'm gonna go in the weight room and I'm going to do my best, And so the running backs are over there going damn it, I gotta work harder because I can't not beat him, you know what I mean. And so if I made my team one percent better

I mean, you got to have coaches, you got to have players.

But we had a really, really, really good group of guys that that did everything they had to do to be successful.

It sometimes doesn't get the credit of that. And what was it that Harrison would say at like five point thirty when Brady walked in did He used to say they in this right? Or good afternoon. It's five thirty in the morning and he's coming in and.

They're busting balls about.

It's holding everybody accountable and making yourself accountable is what you're saying.

Right, It's not that way everywhere?

Must you like every team not not even when I say team, I'm not talking organization, I'm talking every single year you have a new team, right, You've got twenty different guys, you know, some guys are gone, some guys retire, some they're new. It's a different team every single year. But when you have the leadership, not and leadership doesn't have to come from coaching.

I've said it a million times. I say it to the high school kids, I say it to young kids.

Leadership is always the best when it comes from the players, when you take that ownership yourself, because having a coach harp at you or whatever. Yeah, you're you're you're doing it for the fear for your job or whatever, whatever. But when your your peers are doing it, it just it just means different.

Can I ask you that that ninety six team when you come in, do you feel.

Like that sort of set the groundwork for what ended up happening.

Did you feel like that that team, maybe you know as a as a super Bowl runner up, doesn't really get as much.

I'm super naive. That's my rookie year. I don't know, Like I said, just going to Super Bowl things easy.

It wouldn't be.

Back again five six years later before we make it back again.

I knew nothing.

I just he didn't think, you know, a little bit about whatever is going on. We did have, you know, we had good leaders and some good old vets and stuff like that, but we still were a little ways away from it. And then obviously Parcell's leaving and Belichick leaving and Pete Carroll coming in, and the team kind of changed a little bit at that point. Still good, just different. But I think when when when Belichick came back and you know, nobody knew Brady was going to

I never.

I mean the way he transformed, transformed his body, the way his competitive side, his study habits, And I say him, there's twenty other guys, there's fifty other guys that are doing the same stuff, but Tom's the quarterback, so he's the captain, he's the figurehead.

So but but I.

Just think it was it's just it was just that's why it was so much fun. You know, Belichick never made it comfortable ever. We always said we're all walking on eggshells. I remember us winning the game, Josh Miller sitting next to me, and so I don't know what year this was, but its during the nine or ten in a row run that we had going on. And I don't remember who it was, but we whooped the crap out of the team. We won thirty five to

Know I think you had a good game.

Well, here you're throwing into a defensive team meeting and you know, we're kind of chuckling and giggling a little bit. And then oh you think this is good enough, Well, now you're trying to get your quarterback killed with your offensive guys.

And then he flips it over the defense. It flips it to the specialty.

And he went through the list of guys and I'm like, and I remember Josh nudge me.

He goes, God, damn, I fuck, we just got done kicking the crap out of this team, right, But He just kept it real and he's like, this is okay if you're playing this.

Team, you think this is good enough. When you get to the playoffs, it's not right. And so he just there's always a there was always a feeling of we're really good, but we're never gonna get complacent. But if we continue to do what we're supposed to, we should beat the piss out of everybody.

And that's what that's why it was so much fun.

Practices weren't fun, meetings weren't fun, but Sunday after the game was always fun. It was always fun, you know, and that's why you start to build, you build a dynasty or a legacy of That's why guys wanted to come and play there because they just knew it's different, and it was.

It was different.

Do you have to be a different kind of a person that, like everybody can't take that. You come off a thirty five to seven win and you think you're the cat's ass and you're expecting to Monday to see all the highlights and every instead, every single unit gets ripped. You've got to be able to accept that and go this, SOOB is doing this for a reason, right, right, And it has to take a different.

Kind of cat to accept that, doesn't it.

And that was early too, that was when we were still developing stuff, like I think I think Coach Belichick and I think he.

Would say that at the beginning he.

Was much tougher than when when some of the Vets, when the Willies and the and the bruce Ki's and the Varabels. Now we're older veterans and we've been through it starts to change a little bit, and not not a lot, but but he's maybe like, Okay, hey, I love the opportunity practices.

Hilarious, that's good.

Hey, Vets, you're going to take the time off and you young guys are going to get killed today.

But this is an opportunity practice. I love the terminology. It's funny, you.

Know it was it was, you know whatever, But but it's it's always one of those things that that I learned so much, and and what I think you learn is is you can handle and your body can do amazing things if your brain allows you to, or if your brain just gets out of the way and doesn't tell you can't, you know what I mean. So so the and maybe that's a little bit of the military way of knocking guys down to build them back up

But I there's a million ways of skin a cat.

I know, there's there's lots of teams that won Super Bowls different philosophies, but their formula is pretty damn good.

So both of them, right, So two Hall of Fame coaches will obviously Belichick is going to be someday.

How different were they?

The two of them a.

Lot of similarity. I would say more similarities than the differences. But they each have their own way of doing stuff. Obviously they're different, for sure, but but there's there's probably a lot of similarities as well. And and what I thought is these guys could they both had a really good and act of bringing out full potential guys and different ways of doing it. Some guys need to pad on the back, some guys need to be mf whatever.

A star for this team.

Good guys that have helped these teams win, and and that's because they just they.

Towed the line too.

The guys that come in, they go, hey, this is a different organization. Guys are players are different, you know, leadership is different.

And then they just they're not a problem.

They come in and they do a great job and help contribute to victories and Super Bowls and stuff like that.

It's it's it's great.

This guy's the coach maker.

Didn't think about it.

Question, So we get ourselves in Belichick, Right, they played for Tony Dunge is also in the Hall of Fame.

Right, Pete Carroll's going to the Hall of Fame too.

Question.

I mean, did anybody that ever coached you, like just you know Joe Smith.

No. Again, like I've always said from day one, I've been super blessed to be around the best coaches, the best players. Like I pinched myself all the time ago this like it could have been. It could have been way different. It could have been.

You know, you play for a team that had zero success and zero whatever.

It's just I always sit there and go, man, I I'm I'm not the four leaf clover. I just got lucky to be in the right spot at the right time through twenty some odd years, and it worked out pretty damn good, I think, you.

Know, following up on something that you said, though, you know, there's a perception out there from fans and people who aren't in the locker room that we have to treat everybody the same, and maybe there's a baseline of that. But when you were talking about some guys need a pat on the tail, some guys you need to ride them. Were both Bills capable of doing that and knowing I can't ride this guy because I might lose him, so I got to build him up a little bit. Conversely,

Out of here. Well, Parcels. I only played for him my rookie year, and he was scars hell to me. I didn't want to be anywhere in general facinity like was. He was very entertaining.

You know, we're in our stretching lines and he's going through the line and.

He's given digs and he's hilarious.

But you don't want to get caught laughing because oh you think that's funny of it. You know, I remember my rookie year. I'm going into the training room to grab a band aid. I don't even know why I was in there, but I was in there, and I watched him walk up to one of the guys that were on the table and he.

Said, hey, let me ask you a question. Are you injured or you hurt?

And so I'm listening but not trying to pay attentions that coach I don't understand, and he said, well, if.

You're injured, you're really not any good to our team. You're not contributing, you know, blah blah blah.

He said, if you're hurt, at least you can go out there and help and help our team do some stuff, you.

Know, x y Z.

So he goes, let me ask you, are you injured you're hurt? And he's like, said, I guess I'm hurt. He goes like, great, you'll have a red jersey and your locker. You're obviously be limited. You're gonna do some a few things or whatever. He goes to the next guy next to him, he goes, hey, are you injured or your hurt?

He went down the whole thing, and I'm like, I get get the hell out of here, right. I'm like, hey, I'm not either I just didn't hear grabbing a band aid.

You know, I'm good whatever, So that that's just a different mentality of and that maybe doesn't even fly now. That was thirty years ago, right, but it's just a different mentality of the way they do stuff. Right with Belichick, he was the defensive coach at the time, or the DB's coach at the time.

I didn't have a name.

I was a hey, hey four or I don't think, hey, asshole, that was my name right, right, But I didn't have a name until about the herschel Walker thing and then hey, now you got a name, right, But you have to earn your stripes, I think to a certain degree. And I was okay with that, like, like my dad coached me, and like I like that better than the everything is roses and come on, you'll be okay, Like, no, no, you don't have to be my friend, be a coach, be a tough guy, do what you need to. I

It was never as comfortable, but I loved it.

Then you go to the one team just for those guys you take. It's it's Anthony Pleasant, it's Rick Lyle, it's Bobby Hamilton, those kinds of guys that Bill Belichick now takes with them from the Jets.

Yep, it perpetuates.

So you know, I know you started off by comparing them saying how there's more similarities than we probably all would think.

But I would imagine that.

Welchick worked for Parcels.

I'm sure he took a lot of his things and says, I'm gonna throw my own little spin on it. But a lot of the things that he learned through football probably the same way.

Let's go to the snow game, Adam, and I'm curious as you're driving in that day when you see that.

Now, kid from South Dakota, so it's.

Not like you're a kid from Florida, so it's not like you haven't seen flakes before anything like that.

What's going through your mind as you see the weather that day.

Honestly, I shook my head and go, Belichick, you did it again. He did some.

Voodoo shit to make the weather crappy because he loves that.

This is not a Belichick bash. I love you.

You're a great man and you're my favorite all time coach. But he would be the guy that would we go practice in the game field and I'm like, we're tearing up the field.

He's like, ah, he can handle it. I'm like, handle it like.

They're filling the holes in with sand and then they're painting green.

To make it look like there's grass on the field. I'm like, this is bs. Why are you doing this?

He's like, because they can't handle it and we can't. And I'm like, okay, that makes sense, all right, I got it. So of course it's gonna snow. Of course, I think the forecast said spotty little bit, maybe.

Not eight inches of snow all day long, right, And so we get there. I don't think it's snowing yet.

It's overcast, like it is most every day, you know, in the fall and the winter time. But it starts to snow when we go out there in like pregame warm up, like checking out the field and checking out everything, and what I remember is like the biggest snowflakes you've ever seen. I mean, gigantic, super cool cinematography wise, you know, if you're taking a camera, you're taking pictures, it's awesome. But to playing it sucks, you know, starts snowing hard

I'm like, this is gonna be absolutely miserable.

But I'm thinking this team from California Oakland, they can't handle this. We're gonna whoop their butts in this stuff. And they come out and play really solid game.

Most of the game.

They're sticking it to us, right, they're playing really well. So and as a game progresses on, it just gets more and more and more. And you know, it was interesting going out there watching the whole tuck rule stuff and all that. You know, when Woodson goes around the corner and you know, hits Tom's arm, stripsack or arm coming forward whatever, I'm sitting there thinking, ah, Jesus, were

The rule at that time was what it is. I get it.

And they change the rule after that, I get it. But the way they judged it that way was the right call. And I'm thinking to myself as I'm watching that, I'm thinking, man, we're cleaning out of locker. And then all of a sudden, the realism comes on to me, is like, you're gonna have to kick the hardest kicking your entire life, probably to give us a chance after that. So Kenny Walter, is my holder, comes up to me and he says, hey, Adam, all the snow all this stuff.

Slow steps to it.

And I've got like as long as cleats in my plant foot as I can to get a little bit of traction and stuff like that. But I'm thinking they're not going to be able to rush fast, so my timing can be a little bit slower because they're not going to be as fast either, So don't worry about that necessarily. But you're thinking, like you're trying to run on ice, right. You can't take big, long strides. You're

So I'm like, get it above the line of scrimmage.

They're not going to be able to get a good push, so it's not, you know, not as imperative to get it as high if you can think of all this stuff as you're going out there. But I'm just thinking, you have to get it online and give your off a chance, right, So.

Get to the ball, kick it, you know.

I look up, I'm like, okay, I didn't fall down, got it above the line of scrimmage. It looks like it's going fairly straight, but it's still got to go forty five yards and it was in a Blizzard's not an easy kick, and honestly, God, as it's leaving, I'm like, got a chance. You're right, I'm like, okay, maybe, but but when it got to the uprights, it's snowing so hard.

I wasn't sure.

I couldn't really tell until the referees went forward and raise their hand.

I'm like, oh my god, I made this kick. Like I know.

The reporters said, you know after the game, like, oh, you know, what's the percentage?

I'm like, I don't know, you know, I'm.

Like I look back at that and I go that's two percent. You know, I like, honest to god, I don't know how many times you can make that, but made it when I needed to, you know, kind of had a had a plan, kind of executed a plan. You know, I didn't want it to come off like a two iron super low, but that's the best I could do at the time, and it was.

It was good enough.

And then you get you know that it unfolds into overtime, and I know, Matt, you know, we were talking about this a little bit almost anti climatic because there was so much shorter, but there's still all that snow on the field before same mindset.

The only good thing, if you can say a good thing is yes, it was twenty three to twenty four years whatever shorter, but we call time out.

Our guys are trying to clear off as much snow as possible, and then Gruden maybe the only time that.

You should maybe not try to ice the kicker, if you will, because it gave us another thirty seconds. We cleared a little bit more snow, wasn't completely clear, but it was.

Way way more clear, way easier.

That one was one of those like yeah, you're gonna make this like like I had all the conference the world that I was gonna make that and kick it a look up, I'm like, oh thank.

God, So yeah it was. It was.

It was a wild day. I'm happy that it happened that way. Never would want to do it again just because, but no, it was. It was pretty awesome. I've played in a few crazy games in Buffalo and stuff, but that one is.

That forty five yarder to tie.

The game is by far my favorite kick I've ever made, even Super Bowl kicks and all that, just because the difficulty level was as hard as you could get.

You miss it, the season's over.

I mean like you couldn't stack any more negative or potential stressful situations on top of that kick, And to make that thing was pretty awesome.

It's really interesting to hear the way you say that, because there's so many people that it would be.

Oh, you know, that's my job and deflect.

When you hear somebody like Bill Belichick, who's said it many times and other great historians of the game call it the single greatest kick in the history of the National Football League, how does that make you feel?

Well, it's a huge compliment. It's awesome to think that whatever. But as I look at other kicks and other things, I haven't watched every kick from everything. I know the Pat summer On one and some of those ones awesome too, but far the most difficult kick I've ever had to think and or or attempt.

And yeah, you'd have to, you'd have to.

I'd be hard pressed to find another one that stacks up to that. But you know, thank goodness, my team gave me an opportunity to try.

It, and a couple of weeks later, yeah, that's that's nothing. Indoors indoors ty games.

That was pretty awesome too, because I just you know, that game kind of back and forth and then the Rams catch up and oh my gosh, you know, and I remember I remember the commentator John Madden saying, ah, you know, she'd probably just take a knee, and thank goodness, we didn't.

We had enough time.

And you know, our philosophy, or at least Charlie Weiss's philosophy, is, you know, let's see if we get a couple first downs.

If we can if we can get in range.

And in that year I think we had I think I had five game winners, including that one in the one, and so we were blowing teams out, but we were winning games. And that's the cool thing about our team that particular year is we lost to the Rams earlier in the year, but it was a good game. Came right down to the end, and we built a lot of confidence in that game, and knowing that every close game, we were just building more confidence and more confidence.

And I literally.

Remember them kicking off to us and I go, we got a minute and a half left. I've seen Tom do it all year long, Like, hell yeah, we're gonna do it again, right, j R. Edmund Troy Brown bandinking, you know, Jermaine Wiggins has one, just a couple of places, bang bang bang bang all the way down the field, and I'm just thinking, hell yeah, you know.

And so the feeling for that kick is never It's a game.

You dream about it your entire life. You know, as a little kid, You're like, what's as a kicker, that's the dream, right, kicking a game winner in a Super Bowl.

I mean, that's exactly what you think about.

So I'm over in the net and I'm watching, you know, and I kind of have a routine like, hey, when we get to a certain yard line, I start to warm up a little bit, and everything's spent up.

A little bit, so you start a little earlier.

And it's funny because in my entire career, when you get ready for game winners, everybody kind of treats you like you've got some rare contagiouness.

You got a let parsuit, you're no hitter in base.

Yeah, nobody wants to talk to you, touch you, say anything to you.

Two guys in my.

Entire career in twenty four years, two guys Willie and lawyer. Lawyer and my lawyer, the two guys that would say something to me. And Willy comes up to me as I'm walking in and he gives me a right on.

The butt, come on, man, we hit this thing.

And I'm like, I can't feel my ass cheek right now, but thank you for that.

But okay, good.

You know. But and and and Johnny Rotten, our equipment guy at the time, Johnny hillbrand And was like, you hit it, I don't get it, and he takes off down the sideline. So the funny things that you remember because everything's happening fast but slow.

Everything slow motion kind of sort of in and you know, we.

Finally, you know, dinking and dunkin and dinking and Duncan and Tom spikes the ball and it's all right, get out there and kick this thing. I'm thinking to myself, I'm like, forty eight yarder. It's not a chip shot by any means. It's a long kick. But I'm like, this is like like I everything's calm and quiet, lots of stuff is going on, but it just kind of your world just kind of shrinks to a little bit here.

And Rod is talking mad trash to him. Yeah, yeah, talking all just just numbshit. I can see it too.

It's like just yesterday, right, And and I'm the kind of guy that I like to get everybody set because I don't want to take my steps back and wait back there for a long time. And so Rod's over here just jahn, just talking trash, and I and Kenny's like waiting for me to get set, and I go, Kenny, make him stop.

He does.

Rod gets set, you know, and Rod's like, oh, you know, he gets down right, And so the biggest kick of your life, and this stupid crap is going on in front of you, right, like the stuff that's happening in

And all that stuff, and and it.

Was just just I don't know, you know, it's just amazing. At that point, We've we our team fought so like six years for me and all the years and all the stuff, but but just that year in particular, with with Bloodshell going down and Brady coming in, the ups and downs, the nine to elevens, I mean just just the world was just a different place and for it all to come together like that, it was I mean, yeah, I mean absolutely I did.

It was. It was just one of those things that you couldn't help it. And then and then.

Johnny, who I love telling the story because because I have the ball.

And on my and I see him, you know, we're the champions and all this stuff, and.

I'm bringing my wife down from the crowd and where everybody's high fiving and hugging and all this stuff. And then all of a sudden, I see him coming over and he looks like he's been in a dogfight, right.

Faces, all red shirts all pulled off, and I'm like, what happened? He goes, I got the ball.

And I'm like, I'm like, awesome, I go what happened to you? And I wish like, like I've seen so many videos of the ball hitting the net and all this stuff, but you never see after that right hits the net, trickles down, Johnny catches the ball.

The two ball guys or whoever they are, are like, give me the ball.

He's like, nope, this is mine, and they're like attacking him, like trying to like hit him.

And pull his arms and stack him and stuff. And he's like, I was not giving the ball.

He runs inside, puts in the trunk, locks it up, and then he comes out and tells me, and I'm like, are you kidding me.

Like this really happened during the Super Bowl.

I wish, I wish I had video of that, but but it was just a yeah, incredible went off on the team.

No, what a great memory.

And you know, with the benefit of time now and as you're saying, you're as you're aging a little bit,

I didn't realize it at the time, but over the next decade or two or whatever, I love it because every person that I meet tells me exactly where they're at, what they were doing.

Like I've had people send.

Me letters and say, my dad, who was elderly who watched this stuff physically was weeping in his chair.

I got people telling me we were running down the street and freaking out and just.

Do all kinds of crazy stuff. And like, for me, it's my livelihood, it's a game. It's what I've always wanted to do in my life. But I didn't understand what the magnitude of what it meant to everybody else until that time.

You know.

And so so yeah, it's awesome. I like like every time I come back and people, I love to hear the story. So like, I bet you hate talking about this, I'm like, no, I love it, absolutely love it. I mean it's a great memory for all of us. And and you know, the Red Sox aren't start winning after that, like like like the the Massachuset, New England sports has been super spoiled the last two decades with Red Sox and Celtics and bro you know, like all the stuff that,

So you know, Bill after that, I'm not sure how long after the season was over, but he was sort of you know, retelling his thoughts, and he said, if you had told me I was going to have my best player in position to win the Super Bowl, I.

Had of taken that situation.

It's not often that a coach talks about his kicker in those kinds of terms.

I've heard him say that, I thank you for the compliment.

Obviously, there's so many unbel like I would never ever physically, hell no, I would never say that. But I felt like I was a guy that contributed to my job like everybody else did. And I can't get in everybody else's head. I loved it as much as anybody. I tried as hard as anybody, Like I competed as much as anybody else. But we had so many brothers, you know, like they're not my biological brother, but there was my brother as much as anybody else in this whole world.

You'd be like, what's that?

You know?

Are like the relationships that we built.

And I always say that to people too, like that that have never won a Super Bowl or a high school championship or whatever I said.

You'll have that for the rest of your life. It will be different for you because of it.

The relationships that you build with these guys, it's just different now. I mean, it's just because what you had to go through to get to that level.

It's just a just a different thing.

You mentioned Bruce, Ki and Willie, and that's interesting to hear that.

Pick up the phone and call those guys. What about Kenny and Lonnie? Because you guys, we.

Talk all the time, all the time.

You guys are literally the three of you.

You're practicing by yourselves the whole time, and the three of you are responsible for some of the greatest moments of franchise system, no doubt.

You know.

And people say, hey, how was that kick?

To Bill or the media ask him, well, the operation was clean, And I don't think fans necessarily realize how important the operation.

Those Yeah, you only get recognized if you screw up, mean a little bit different, but snapholed. They don't ever get it even mentioned in less thing goes wrong right. And I was so blessed that Kenny taught me a lot about kicking and trajectory of footballs and stuff. He learned it from John Casey when he was in Carolina, and then he brings it to me. It's like, hey, listen, I can hold, I can adjust to lean a little bit to help if if we've got a big win, we can take some of the draw off the ball.

If I lean it a little bit more, I'm like, what the hell you talking about? Just put it down. I'll take it right.

And over time, my trust level in him was incredible, like like I'm like, dude, like whatever you do, just do you because I know it's and it made it so much easier for.

Me because I don't have to worry about all this other stuff.

And and Lonnie another I mean awesome as well, like like those guys, And that's funny that you say it, because we have a little chain that we always go talking about family stuff. Are just funny stuff or hey remember this or whatever all the time once a month.

At least, if not more often.

So Yeah, And Donnie lives in California, casing Carolina and I'm in India now. So but it never goes away. The relationship is as good today as it was twenty years ago.

Doesn't that make you feel good? Yeah?

And so the whole like what is it slightly forward and to the left.

Is that that Kenny?

Well, so, so the amount of.

That's how we want to get held. Remember, Yeah, when you're a nerd, that's that's that's that's that's the nerd stuff. We had to ask the kicker about it.

Now that you're talking about that, then we'll explain it to the rest of the world.

Yeah, a little bit of a forward.

Lean allows you to get to hit the ball more solidly. Actually opens the sweet spot because all little kids always hit there and when they put it on a te they hold it back right and so they always miss, you know, And so a little bit of a forward lean it allows you to.

Drive the ball a little bit more.

And if you play in New England, it's windy every single day, so you have to learn how to drive the ball a little bit the lean as far as more. You know, away you always want to lean the ball a little So as a righty you're going to lean it a little bit to the right away from your body because your foot as it comes through you want it.

To hit perpendicular to the ball.

So but Kenny could actually go, hey, listen, we've got a big left to right wind so we wanted to actually almost cut into it a little bit.

So I'm going to give you a little bit less lean.

So your ball, if we were inside and there was no condition, your ball would actually draw a little bit. But that wind's pushing it, so it's going to keep it straight or vice versa. If it's blowing the other direction, then a little bit more lean. So I never even understood that. He's just like, you, don't worry about it.

The ground better than me.

And it sounds corny, but that's the little things that make the difference in the in the grand scheme of it.

So we're talking about Lonnie Patson, the launch snapper, Kenny Walter, your holder, responsible for many things. If you go to the two thousand and three season and fast forward to Super Bowl thirty eight, and I think there's a lot of people that just look at Super Bowl thirty eight and Okay, maybe that's really where the dynasty was born. You guys were dominant that year, started that twenty one game winning streak, and you kick the game winning field goal again, and I think people.

Don't know what's going on. Oh yeah, Adam had another.

Game winner, but that was not your typical game winning field goal because of what was going on in that game. You actually missed a kick in that game, which probably people.

Don't recall, and you had a kick blocked. You had unique circumstances that game, didn't you.

Yeah, Lonnie got hurt earlier in the season. We had another holder or another snapper that got hurt. And then Brian Kitchen, who was retired, came in. Bill knew him from earlier in his career and he comes in and he had.

A little bit of issues.

He ended up cutting the webbing of his finger in the pregame meal buttering a roll.

With a state knife. I don't know how that happens, but.

Long story short, and in the whole week we had some some trials and tribulations, a little bit of craziness that went along. So yeah, there was a lot of extra circumstances that went into that game. But yeah, you know, Brian's best snap of his career was the game whin It was bang.

Right on point.

It was perfect, but yeah, it was. It was an interesting situation nonetheless.

So this time though, you couldn't go out there never worrying about your snaper a holder this time. I'm sure that was front of mine. But yet right down the middle again forty one yards.

Yeah, well, thank thank goodness, everything worked out well. Yeah, you know, it's one of those things like you know, I think the good performers at any any you know, kicking or a pitcher or whatever. You know, if you're if you're a closer and pitcher and somebody hits a home run and you lose the game, you gotta forget that, right because you're going to be out there again. And two days later, and if you're still thinking about that, you're gonna have some issues. And I think the best

Miss a kid gosh.

I mean, I I remember the miss is way more than I remember the mix.

I really do. I mean, they they just grind on you a little bit more because you're like, why the heck did I mix miss that? You know?

So, yeah, having having a miss earlier in the game and and having one blocked earlier in the game, I'm sitting there going, oh my gosh.

You know, but you have to be able to.

Walk out there and at that particular time and go clear your mind and really just focus on the next second and a half what's what's happening in front of you. And it's sometimes easier said than done. The ones that can't do it usually usually on around very long.

Were you excited at that point in time that you had another chance to quote unquote redeem yourself?

Absolutely?

Yeah.

I hate ending a game on a on a miss or something like you miss one in the second quarter. You don't get another opportunity you're like, damn it, you know, I want to you know, you just want to have you know, it's not it's not about stats and how many of that is just you just want to You always want to finish on a good note.

Do you again, with the gift of time, are you able at them to look back at all and say that you were part of a team. You're the last team to ever repeat the three and then the four teams, the last team in the NFL. There's been a lot of worthy candidates. Do you look at do you look back at that with a certain fondness of Well, that's really it's hard to win one.

It's really hard to repeat. It's really hard to win three and four.

Yeah, I mean that even you can saying that, Yeah, to a certain degree, that's that's even more impressive, not because you've won two, but the toll that it takes on a on a team to make it to a super Bowl. A lot of times it's hard to come back the next year because it's a month less offseason, it's a month you know, got it's just more difficult. So, yeah, you know it was those years were fun. They were just so much fun because we expected to beat everybody

You know, we didn't win every single time, but we want most of the time. You know, it was fun.

It was a really fun run throughout that and you know, nothing against the Philadelphia Eagles or anything like that, but we just felt like we were a better team than them.

So with obviously the brotherhood that you talked about, how difficult was it after the five season to leave?

Very difficult.

We could talk for two hours about that particular situation, but yeah, it I didn't want to go. I just felt like I wanted something that was fair. That's probably the nicest way I can say it. Never saw free agency for ten years, got franchised several times. All I wanted was a multi year deal, fair money, it's all. And they played games. And then I finally got a team that offered me that, and I gave him an opportunity to match or to give a real offer, and

Can say that.

So, Matt and I were talking about this before you came in, and I'm not sure if it was on your mind at the time, if it was part of the you know, the thought process, but like, ultimately the way it worked out, it may have been one of the best things that could have happened for you're kicking indoors. How many more years, fourteen more years?

Has that ever happened to?

Like?

I mean this, Yeah, I was fortunate.

I played two full careers with two different teams, right, I mean really, I mean ten years and fourteen years.

I mean, are you kidding me?

That's pretty awesome going to Indie. You know, I always said if I was going to leave an incredible organization, I wasn't going to go to a crappy organization that had no chance of winning, right.

So didn't say AFC, NFC this or that.

I said, play it in crummy weather in New England for ten years. If I'm going to leave, it's going to be for some It's going to be a South team, it's going to be a dome, it's going to be somewhere nicer weather. If you will, you know, and then I had a lot of teams that called, and then Indy made me an offer I could refuse.

Was that a thought process that you know, like was the indoor part of it?

Hey, this could really help.

I didn't really look at it longevity wise.

I didn't say, hey, I can extend my career doing this, But I did think, man, this is my stats shouldn't suffer going in sure, you know, if anything, they should improve, which they probably did over you know, my field goal makes versus missus. You know, percentages probably did go up being inside at that point. I think in my first ten seasons, I'd never missed a kick inside, which I was like, oh, that doesn't suck.

You know, so Tom never lost the game in a dome for a long time.

Yeah, and you got a chance at least to have one playoff game in Crumby Weather that first year.

Right you were in Buffalo.

You kicked five I mean Baltimore with five field goals in the slop there in Baltimore. I mean, that must have made you feel right at home, right, just like.

Taking Yeah, it was funny because some of the new teammates they're like, man, I hated you for a long time, you better prove.

You're worthy of it.

Gary Brackett, one of our linebackers in particular, he came up to me after the game.

He goes, you earned my respect like that in itself.

I mean, because it was fifty some yacht right from one of them, right, fifteen to six or whatever the score was, so it was all field goals. Every point was scored by my field goals. Probably a boring game to watch unless you're a defensive minded person, but yeah, it was.

It was a pretty good game I.

Think from a Patriots fans perspective when you look back at that era and you look at the Patriots Colts rivalry, meaning Brady, it was one of the greatest periods of all time. You got to see it from both sides. What was that like to experience it from both times? I think, or I remember not proud to say this.

Did you get booed when you came back at six? So? I think there was sort of smattering.

Of booze was so.

So this is exactly what they did, and I respect all of them for it. They cheered me when I came on, They booed me the entire game, and they any ovation to me when I left, which is a respect.

Thing, which which I was like, I get it. I understand. That's cool.

That's the gamemanship, that's the that's the twelfth player kind of thing, which was cool.

I do remember later on when we came back, some of the fans dude, are you suck this and that?

And I remember McAfee, who who never stays quiet for anything, turns around he's like.

Really he sucks.

Come on, like like he just challenged that guy, and like all the people around him were.

Like, ah, it's pretty funny, like he got you, you know whatever.

And then then it carried on. But but I didn't usually like to make too much. I try not to pay too much attention to the crowd and stuff. But yeah, you can absolutely hear it.

But I get it.

I mean I understand, like, listen, fans are are buck while they're awesome, they're awesome, and that's that's what makes them awesome.

I mean they there's truly an advantage of playing at home in New England.

You mentioned him, so I got to follow up with it.

Please tell me you never have to pay when you and McAfee go out, but you have ever a made he in backafee blowing up into what he's blown up to now.

You know, when he said he was going to retire from football and he was going to start all this stuff, I'm sitting there going to do don't do it?

What are you talking? Like, are you kidding me?

You're going to give up multimillion dollars a year on the field. And he's like, I got other things that are going to work out good. And I'm like, holy cuts. I'm like, like he was right. I was wrong, Like like, don't get me wrong, Like he still had many more years of playing, and he was a great team and he was fun to be around.

And all that stuff. I'm so proud of him. He's done great. He's done amazing.

Like I always knew he was the life of the party. I just didn't know he was going to kill it as well as he did.

You've been out now for a couple of years.

I think you need to wait another two or three years when you hear people to date about Pro Football Hall of Fame drawing a lot of kickers in the Hall of Fame.

Adam too.

But I don't think that there's anybody that would take a look at your career all time leading score, the clutch kicks the game when he kicks everything like that, and again, to quote one of the greatest stories of the game, Bill Belichick, he says, it's a no brainer.

Adam, do you think about that? Is that on your mind at all? Is it important to you?

I would lie if I said I'd never thought about it.

That's that's an absolute That's not true. You know, when I played, I didn't ever want to talk about it, or I just kind of deflected that story. Now that I've sat back and thought about it a little bit more, yeah, I mean obviously, I mean, you lie.

If you didn't say you want to be in that. Of course I do.

It's a humongous honor to be considered one of the elite guys to ever play the game. I'll say this, you don't get there without playing with amazing teammates and having that opportunity.

If I played, I don't know, pick a team.

I'm gonna say the Alaska Eskimos because I don't want to disrespect any team in the league right now, But if you play for them and you never play. I look at a guy like Jason Hanson, I think he's a great kicker played a lot long time, played in a couple of playoff games. He doesn't get doesn't get the recognition because he didn't get to.

Play in those types of situations.

So for me, I sit there and I go, if I'm fortunate enough to have a gold jacket, which I hope I do. I hope I do. I hope it soon, you know whatever, and if it happens, it's it's more. Of course I had to kick those kicks, but I couldn't have been anywhere out there with without all of my teammates, without the coaches, without having them having faith in me to put me out for these certain situations

You mentioned Hanson, and there's a handful of other kickers that you can think of, Oh, you know that that guy might have had a Hall of Fame career. But I think there's a unanimity, unanimous thinking of, well, there aren't a lot of kickers in the Hall of Fame. But if there's ever gonna be one. It's got to be this guy in Adam Vini Terry. How does that you know the fact that there just seems to be

That's got to make you feel proud.

It does, Yeah, it does.

I mean again, like I always tried to take every not even every season, every kick, every game, every whatever, and do the best that I could to help my team. But when you turn around you look back on your career, it was pretty awesome.

It's pretty fun.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm so blessed, been so fortunate to be, like I said, to be put in the right situations with the right team, just to just some snot nose kid from South Dakota that nobody expected.

To even make the team.

The fact that Bill Parcells didn't cut me when he did and said, hey he's week to week. He gave me one more week. Thank you Bill, you know, thank you other coaches for hey, you know what, it's probably this kick is the hardest kick in History's probably not gonna make it, but we're gonna give you a chance, you know, things like that, like like without those opportunities, and I'm just a guy.

Right, It's tremendous, perfect way to tremendous.

Uh, can't thank you enough for the time. This was really good. I hope you're enjoyed an all the story. It was really really fun for us Outavin to tarry our guest.

Everyone.

Thank you for downloading this podcast.

Subscribe on Apple, Google Play, and everywhere else you listen.

Like the show, please rate and review us.

Listener comments and ratings help keep us high in the podcast rankings so new listeners can find us. Be sure to check Patriots dot com for more news and more podcasts.