Missed FG costs Adam Vinatieri $500,000
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| © Getty Images INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 11: Adam Vinatieri #4 of the Indianapolis Colts kicks a field goal during the first quarter of the game against the Houston Texans at Lucas Oil Stadium on December 11, 2016 in Indianapolis |
Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri entered today's game having made 26 of his 29 field goal attempts on the season. Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, Vinatieri had an incentive in his contract wherein if he made 90% of his field goals this year, he'd get a $500,000 bonus.
In the second quarter of today's game against Jacksonville, Vinatieri lined up for a 48-yard field goal and hit it off the right upright. Therefore, unless Vinatieri attempts 10 more field goals today - and makes all of them - that bonus isn't happening.
A scenario where the Colts were in gray area field goal range late in the game today, where Vinatieri was currently sitting over 90%, would have been fascinating to observe.
Colts' Adam Vinatieri misses a 48-yard field goal, costs himself $500K
Everyone expects Adam Vinatieri, maybe the most clutch kicker in NFL history, to make field goals in big spots. But with a bunch of cash on the line, Vinatieri couldn't close the deal Sunday.
Vinatieri entered Week 17 with having hit 89.7 percent of his kicks on the season. If he hit just one field goal, he would've pushed his accuracy above 90 percent and unlocked a $500,000 bonus clause in his contract.
As long as Vinatieri didn't miss any of his field goals he was going to stay above that threshold and earn himself some money.
"I'm at 89-and-change,'' Vinatieri said before the game.
But after the Colts recovered a Blake Bortles fumble, they went three-and-out on a series that featured Jack Doyle dropping a pass and Andrew Luck taking a sack.
The result was a 48-yard field goal attempt that Vinatieri missed. Vinatieri did make a 45-yard kick, however, and the Colts came from behind to beat the Jaguars 24-20. So he has that going for him.
Robert Mathis announces Sunday’s game will be his last
Longtime Colts pass rusher Robert Mathis is calling it a career.
Mathis announced today that he will retire after Sunday’s regular-season finale. He got emotional as he talked about what football has meant to him when addressing reporters today.
“The game of football, in a sense, has been my best friend,” Mathis said. “I want to walk away, not limp away.”
The 35-year-old Mathis arrived in Indianapolis as a fifth-round draft pick out of Alabama A&M in 2003. Although he played at a lower level of college football, former Colts coach Tony Dungy has said Mathis was so impressive in college that the only player he ever saw with as good a college highlight film as Mathis’s was Barry Sanders.
Despite his small-school pedigree, Mathis quickly became a fearsome pass rusher and soon joined Dwight Freeney to form the best pair of pass-rushing defensive ends in the NFL. Mathis was chosen to six Pro Bowls, led the league in sacks in 2013 and is fourth among active players in career sacks, with 122.
Mathis and Adam Vinatieri are the only players left on the Colts who were part of their Super Bowl XLI-winning team 10 years ago.
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