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Colts: Rodrigo Blankenship remains breath of fresh air after Adam Vinatieri

By Jerry Trotta

CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 11: Kicker Rodrigo Blankenship #3 of the Indianapolis Colts warms up prior to the game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 11, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns defeated the Colts 32-23. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 11: Kicker Rodrigo Blankenship #3 of the Indianapolis Colts warms up prior to the game against the Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium on October 11, 2020 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Browns defeated the Colts 32-23. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) /
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Colts rookie kicker Rodrigo Blankenship has continued to help fans in Indy forget about Adam Vinatieri’s bad final season.

The importance of flaunting a sound special teams unit is often overlooked in today’s NFL, when scoring touchdowns take precedent and going for it on fourth down is growing in popularity. Don’t tell that to the Indianapolis Colts, however, because punter Rigoberto Sanchez and kicker Rodrigo Blankenship form one of the best tandems in the league.

We don’t mean to discredit Sanchez’s craft, but it goes without saying that the Blankenship has meant more to the team so far this season. After all, at this point in 2019, Frank Reich and the rest of the coaching staff were hoping that veteran Adam Vinatieri, who was in the middle of the worst season of his esteemed career, would turn things around.

Unfortunately for the three-time Pro Bowler, he wasn’t able to do so. He was then placed on injured reserve in December after undergoing season-ending knee surgery. When all was said and done, Vinatieri finished the year with career-lows in both field goal percentage (68%) and extra point conversation rate (78.6%).

It’s not hyperbole to say that the 47-year-old’s kicking woes cost Indianapolis multiple wins last season, so the success Blankenship has enjoyed early on in his rookie season has really served as a breath of fresh air for Colts fans.

Blankenship has been nothing short of automatic for Indy thus far and he continued his blazing hot start in Sunday’s comeback win over the Bengals, drilling a 40-yard field goal and converting on all four of his extra-point attempts.

The Georgia product was perfect with his leg for the third consecutive week, extending his NFL-leading point tally to 63 and furthering the gap between him and Ravens stud Justin Tucker in the process.

For the season, Blankenship is 16-of-18 (88.8%) on field goal tries and a perfect 15-of-15 on extra-points. To say it’s an extreme rarity for a rookie kicker to showcase that short of marksmanship is an understatement and he continues to make the Colts look like geniuses for signing him as a free agent after the 2020 Draft this past April.

As crazy as it sounds, Week 6 marked the first time this season that the former Bulldog made fewer than two field goals in a game. That speaks to the Colts’ improved efficiency in the red zone, and, as much confidence as we have in Blankenship when he steps onto the field, we hope to see less of him and more celebrations in the end zone moving forward.

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