Here is a video interview with Vinatieri from CBS 4 Boston. Watch the interviewer. The guy seems to reflect the dumbfounded reaction many New England fans have regarding this signing. In my mind, the reason they are dumbfounded is they can't believe their "genius" coach let one of their best players sign with a rival. My favorite reasoning from Pats fans, and it takes some serious Kool-Aid drinking to come up with this, is that the brain trust in New England thinks Adam is done and that's why they let him go. Here's some insight into this train of thought from Tommasse over at PatsPulpit:
Did he (Belichick and/or Pioli) do the right thing? Based on track record, he's innocent until proven guilty. Forget Belichick's "mind." He has been regarded for many years as the keenest judge of talent possibly ever. Did he see something that indicates Vinatieri just "didn't have it" or at least isn't worth the boatload of money he was asking for? Otherwise, why wouldn't they have pinned him with the franchise tag again, as they did to protect him the two previous years?
Tommasse goes on to say that Vinatieri hasn't "made a truly clutch kick in a couple years" and that this is why they chose to pooch kick with Flutie in a meaningless Week 17 game last year. Listen, I like Tommasse and I like his blog. He's a rabid Patiots fan and he defends them relentlessly against criticism. However, if he really thinks that Vinatieri is done and that this is why Belichick and Pioli let him go to the Colts, he's smoking some serious ganja.
The bottom line here is New England was beaten to the punch by Indianapolis. That's all. New England had every intention to re-sign Vinatieri, but the Colts offered slightly more money. It's not like New England was offering a cheap deal to Vinatieri. They were going to pay him a lot of bread. This is dated March 3, 2006:
John Tomase of the Boston Herald writes that Adam Vinatieri has reportedly turned down an offer from the Patriots for what sources are saying was a multiyear contract worth more than $2 million annually that would keep him the highest-paid kicker in the game. Tomase reports that a source close to Vinatieri said he wants to let the market determine his value, "like at an auction."
So, if Vinatieri is as damaged as Tommasse suggests, why the hell did the Patriots offer him $2 million annually in a deal that would have made him the highest paid kicker in football? I'm sure some Pats fans will offer up some cockamemey reason, like the knew Indy was interested so they offered Adam something they knew he would turn down so Indy would jack up their price and kill their cap. "Logic" like this is easily debunked. We know that rather than wait for New England to match the Colts' offer, Vinatieri just up and signed with Indy. Heck, no one expected Indy to give Adam an offer.
Vinatieri himself didn't even expect it! He says in the interview he was surprised by the call.
Indy beat NE to the punch. It's literally that simple, and for some reason this does not compute with many Pats fans.
