INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Adam Vinatieri celebrated one major milestone Sunday by becoming the NFL’s career field goal leader.He would have preferred doing it by adding to his league record for victories.The 23-year veteran made the record-breaking 566th field goal with 2 seconds left in the first half and No. 567 on a 44-yarder in overtime to give the Indianapolis Colts a 34-31 lead before watching Ka’imi Fairbairn make two more field goals to give Houston a 37-34 victory.“It’s more fun when you get a win that’s for sure. But it’s a good record https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Jack-Doyle-Jersey , a fun record, just would have been nice on a win,” he said.“I think I’ll probably think about it more when I’m done and gone. I was thinking about it when guys were congratulating me during the game, and it just kind of hit me just like that that’s more than anybody’s ever done.”The previous record of 565 belonged to Hall of Famer Morten Andersen, who played high school football at Indianapolis Ben Davis.Vinatieri tied the record by making three kicks in last week’s wet loss at Philadelphia before breaking the record on a bright, sunny day on his home turf.Had he not gotten the chance Sunday, Vinatieri’s next chance would have come Thursday at New England, where he started his career in 1996.But the 45-year-old kicker, the oldest player in the league, kept that story line off the books by making the medium-range field goal to get the Colts within 21-10. Afterward, Vinatieri’s teammates wanted to celebrate more than the new career leader did.“I heard the crowd a little more than usual. I think every one of my teammates came up to me, we were down at the time and was kind of like, ‘We’re down let’s go win this game,'” he said. “Wish I had one more opportunity, I guess.”Vinatieri needs to get used to these sorts of days given the charts he’s still climbing.The South Dakota State alum played in his 341st game Adam Vinatieri Jersey , breaking a tie with Hall of Famer George Blanda to move into fourth. If he plays in all 12 remaining games, he will pass Jeff Feagles (343) and tie Gary Anderson (353) for second all time.His next field goal attempt will surpass Anderson (672) for No. 2 all time.And Vinatieri has moved within 26 points of breaking Andersen’s career scoring record of 2,544. Vinatieri has said he also hopes to break that record at Lucas Oil Stadium. He is the only player on Indy’s roster who played on opening night of the stadium in 2008.What Vinatieri, dubbed the best clutch kicker in league history, does best is win.He’s participated in a league-record 226 regular-season victories, owns four Super Bowl rings, has played on six AFC championship teams and is the NFL’s career scoring leader in postseason games (234 points).His most memorable kicks do not count in the official league records.He made the decisive field goals in the final minutes to give New England two Super Bowl wins and two field goals in the infamous “Snow Bowl”, or “Tuck Rule Game”, to help the Patriots beat Oakland in overtime and start the run to the franchise’s first Super Bowl crown.But he would have liked to win this one.“It’s weird, you know, you come off a loss and it doesn’t feel quite the same way,” Vinatieri said. “I’m sure I’ll look back at in years to come and it will be pretty special.” Frank Reich had the Indianapolis Colts ready to play at home against divisional opponent Tennessee. They controlled the pace of the game and won on both sides of the football, and threw crippling blows in the first half. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter, with the game well in hand, that Indianapolis took its foot off of the gas.Luck entered the half 12 of 17 for 195 yards and a touchdown. The running backs combined for 51 yards on 11 carries Marvin Harrison Color Rush Jersey , good for 4.5 yards per carry, and two touchdowns. These are strong performances in both offensive phases against a defense that was ranked sixth overall heading into the game. The Titans defense came into the game averaging 328 yards allowed and entered half time after giving up 246. They entered the game as the top scoring defense in the league, allowing less than 17 points per game. They went into the half down 24-3.A week ago, the Colts were unable to keep momentum heading into the second half. They nearly allowed Jacksonville to mount a successful comeback. A week ago, the Titans shocked the NFL by soundly beating the New England Patriots.Not the case this week. For either team.In the second half, Andrew Luck was 11 of 12 for 102 yards and two touchdowns. This was good for a game total of 23 of 29 for 297 yards and three touchdowns. This is a 79% completion percentage and good for a QB Rating of 143.8. T.Y. Hilton abused Adoree’ Jackson, hauling in 9 passes on 9 targets for 155 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Colts defense? My goodness, they played as fast as I can recall seeing them play. Matt Eberflus mixed things up all game. The defensive line generated pressure on its own, and well-timed and well-designed blitzes created pressure on Mariota throughout the first half. Tennessee went into the locker room having allowed four sacks, having thrown an interception, and having fumbled the ball (although they recovered it). Oh yeah, Mariota suffered an injury on the final sack of the first half and would not return to the game.I’m not sure I’ve seen an opponent enter the locker room at half time so dejected and defeated. There would be no second half comeback on Sunday as the Colts finished the Titans off 38 - 10.Let’s revisit the keys to the game.CATCH THE DAMN BALLNyheim Hines continues to have issues catching the ball when he is running away from Luck in the backfield. He is lucky his first drop wasn’t a fumble on a backward pass. He only caught 1 of his 3 targets for 20 yards. Marlon Mack also missed a pass his way and Indianapolis will need the rookies to clean this up to be effective moving forward in the season. The backfield is a big part of Frank Reich’s offensive scheme and having hands is a must.RE-ESTABLISH BALANCEThe Colts accomplished this goal. 25 rushing attempts versus 32 passing attempts, for 105 rushing yards and a 4.2 yards per carry average — excluding three kneel downs to close the game. Marlon Mack and Jordan Wilkins both scored rushing touchdowns. The offensive line re-established dominance in the trenches against a formidable defensive front.CONTAIN MARIOTAMy word, did the Colts contain Marcus Mariota. He only ran four times for 17 yards, unless you include a couple of sacks where he was attempting to scramble and couldn’t make it back to the line of scrimmage. The times he did run with the ball left him quickly sliding to avoid hard contact.FIND SOMEONE TO COVER DEEPFrankly https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Tarell-Basham-Jersey , deep passing never became much of an issue. Quincy Wilson picked off Mariota on an under thrown pass when he attempted to test the Colts secondary. There was enough push by the Colts front four on most plays and enough sacks to land that Indianapolis was able to make it through the game without missing Malik Hooker. They will need him to get healthy if they hope to repeat these results to close out the season.PASS RUSH NEEDS TO TURN UP THE HEATEberflus put together a masterful defensive game plan that led to pressure all over for Mariota and Blaine Gabbert. His unit generated 5 sacks, 7 hits and 8 tackles for a loss. Sacks came from all over too, with 1.5 credited to Jabaal Sheard, 1 to Darius Leonard (who also forced a fumble), 1 to Denico Autry, 1 to Kemoko Turay, and a .5 sack to Kenny Moore II. This pressure certainly played a role in allowing Quincy Wilson to snag an errant throw from Mariota and helped Darius Leonard pick off Blaine Gabbert, as he desperately tried to get rid of the ball in a collapsing pocket. This is the way a Tampa 2 defense is supposed to work.For those keeping track, while Tyquan Lewis was not credited with a sack, he did have a tackle for a loss and was a part of creating pressure on the inside. When the Colts started the season with a philosophy of throwing the defensive line at opponents in waves, there were some questions about what those waves would look like.That picture is starting to clear up.
