Mike Vrabel had more than one Adam Vinatieri memory ready when the Hall of Fame subject came up Friday, but the one he led with was pure offseason mischief.
As Vrabel told it, Vinatieri once rolled in with a bright yellow sports car, only to hear plenty from his Patriots teammates.
“I think the favorite story is he showed up one offseason with a yellow Lamborghini or Ferrari or something, and we crushed him,” he recalled. “I think he took it back and then got a normal color.”
That lighter moment sits alongside the kind of football feat that made Vinatieri a lock for Canton. On Saturday, he officially enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame, adding the game’s highest individual honor to a résumé built on clutch kicks, Super Bowl moments and NFL records.
Vrabel also pointed back to one of the most famous kicks in league history: Vinatieri’s 45-yard field goal in blizzard conditions to tie the Patriots’ 2001 divisional playoff game against the Raiders at 13-13.
“The kick in the snow, if you were there, you were on that field, to be able to think that could somehow be done. I struggled to run on that field that day, and he was able to make the kick that he made,” Vrabel said.
He said the Patriots could lean on Vinatieri in those pressure spots because of the way the kicker prepared and carried himself.
“It was always just - any time we got into those situations, we knew if we can just get it to the 35-yard line that we were going to win the football game. And so, for him to be able to do that in the biggest moments was a pleasure.
He trained hard, he had a routine, engaged with. He wasn’t off.
He wasn’t the lonely kicker, wasn’t by himself. He was a part of the football team.”
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