INDIANAPOLIS -- Last season, a kick that went wide right in Week 17 cost Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri $500,000. This year, the snow might have kept Vinatieri from collecting an additional $500,000.
Vinatieri's field goal percentage dropped to 88 percent (22 of 25) after he went 0-for-2 on field goal attempts during blizzardy conditions at New Era Field in Orchard Park, New York, against the Bills on Sunday. He would receive a $500,000 bonus for making 90 percent of his field goal attempts (with a minimum of 16 attempts) this season. He went into Sunday's game having made 95.6 percent (22 of 23) of his field goal attempts.
"The footing for sure [was the toughest]," Vinatieri said after the Colts' 13-7 overtime loss, in which he missed a 43-yard attempt that would have won the game, and a 33-yard attempt. "Trying to run through snow and get good plant -- that's crazy. If it was just snow and no wind, it's one thing. But you get both of them. It was a tough game."
Vinatieri will have to go at least 5-of-5 on field goals over the next three games in order to get his percentage back up to 90 percent, which in turn will get him the bonus. He has made at least 90 percent of his field goal attempts five times in 21 NFL seasons heading into 2017.
Not only have the misses hurt Vinatieri's percentage, but they will also make it more difficult to move past Morten Andersen as the NFL's all-time leading scorer. Vinatieri needs 84 points to pass the Hall of Famer Andersen.