All kinds of speculation are swirling around the Colts complex at West 56th Street today concerning Adam Vinatieri. We saw Adam Shefter on the Monday Night Football pre-game show last night say the Colts are having Vinatieri's knee re-examined after Indy's 31-9 victory over the Tennessee Titans. I can't find any link to this story on ESPN.com, and Shefter's Twitter page seems to make no mention of this.
What does seem fairly certain is the Colts are bringing in veteran kicker Matt Stover for a workout today.
The Stover workout could possibly corroborate the concerns about Vinatieri, or it could be a "back-up" plan due to the fact that Shane Andrus, Indy's kicker during pre-season while Vinatieri healed up from off-season knee and hip surgery, signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week.
If Adam is significantly hurt, we should hear something about it pretty soon, likely in the form of Adam getting placed on IR and Stover getting signed. It is entirely possible that Stover could be signed and Adam would just be inactive until he heals up. The Colts did that in 2006, using Martin Gramatica as the kicker for several early season games.
The key here is the health of Vinatieri. Regardless of what some of you think, the Colts need him healthy if they want to push deep into the playoffs. However, if Adam cannot go, Stover is a very solid replacement. With Pat McAfee booming kickoffs, the place kicker's job is to make big, clutch, money field goals. Like Vinatieri, Stover has shown that ability.