Colts’ Adam Vinatieri should retire or get cut

After watching the film of the last three games that the legendary kicker has played, his time in the league is up. The Colts need to move on one way or the other.

There are rumors that Adam Vinatieri was going to announce his retirement today. It hasn’t happened so far, and it doesn’t look like it will at all. But maybe it should have. It would be the only way he would get out of Indianapolis on his own terms.

Vinatieri has been dreadful the last three games he has played. He’s missed extra points in all of those games, and missed field goals in two of them. None of the kicks missed were longer than 50 yards, and five of them were inside of 35 yards.

I wanted to re-watch the film to see if it was something mechanical. I wanted to see if this was something he could possibly get right and fix. Based on what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like it is. It looks like this is now mental from the greatest kicker ever.

Mental can’t be fixed. Not at the age of 46 when his physical attributes are starting to slip anyway. He has cost the team numerous points over the last few games. He cost them a win in the opener, and almost cost them a win on Sunday in Tennessee.

The Colts have to take the emotion out of this decision. If he were any other kicker, he might have been cut after last game. But now the choice is clear; he has to go. They can’t afford to have a kicker cost them games while the rest of the roster is so good.

It may not be the popular decision, but it is the right one. There are plenty of other kickers out there who won’t blow kicks like he has recently. They need to move on from the last guy who won a Super Bowl with them, no matter how much it hurts.