INDIANAPOLIS -- Kicker Adam Vinatieri, the NFL's all-time leading scorer, went from looking like he was about to cost the Colts another game to being the hero for them.
Vinatieri, who missed a field goal and extra point earlier in the game, made a 51-yard field goal with 22 seconds remaining their 15-13 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday. Vinatieri has made 29 game-winning kicks during his 24-year NFL career. The 51 yarder tied for the third-longest game-winning kick of Vinatieri's career.
"We all knew it was going in," Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton said. "He's made countless kicks like that throughout his career. That's why he's the G.O.A.T."
The Colts (5-2), who lost quarterback Andrew Luck to retirement two weeks before the start of the regular season, are on a three-game winning streak and are 14-3 in their past 17 regular-season games going back to last season.
There was no guarantee Vinatieri was going to have a chance to redeem himself after the Colts started the winning drive at their own 11-yard line with less than two minutes remaining in the game. They got a 35-yard completion from quarterback Jacoby Brissett to Hilton where Brissett broke free from the grasp of Denver pass rusher Von Miller at the 1-yard line before escaping to find Hilton along the sideline.
"There's maybe a couple of quarterbacks in the league that can make that play, we have one of them," Colts coach Frank Reich said. "That's twofold. Get away from Von Miller in the end zone and then the throw, on the run to the right, getting it that far down the field inbounds to T.Y."
After a 15-yard horse-collar penalty by Broncos linebacker Alexander Johnson on running back Nyheim Hines helped the Colts them get into field goal range, Reich showed his faith in Vinatieri when he called back-to-back running plays to ensure they were in the middle of the field for the future Hall of Famer to make the kick.
"Had all the confidence Adam was going to make it," Reich said. "We threw it on first down, called a naked (bootleg) and they covered it up pretty well. I thought we could sneak one in there and get some big yards. Once we didn't get that, I wasn't going to take a chance on a sack or holding penalty that would put us out of field goal range. Run it twice and let Adam win the game."
Questions about Vinatieri's future with the Colts would have been raised had he missed the 51-yard attempt. Vinatieri missed a 45-yard field goal attempt where he had to rush the kick because Denver brought pressure right up the middle on the Colts' opening drive of the game and then missed an extra point that would have tied the game at 13-13 late in the third quarter. He made a 55-yard field goal, which tied for the second longest of his career, in the first half.
"Missing two kicks, I'm not happy about," Vinatieri said. "I'm pretty happy about a 50-plus game winner, a 55, so it wasn't a complete catastrophe. But I expect to make every kick every time I step on the field. I like to have every one of them, but as long as we win, that's the most important thing."
Sunday's struggles added on to a season of inconsistency for the 46-year-old Vinatieri.
He missed three kicks against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 1. Vinatieri immediately took complete blame for the loss to the Chargers after the game. Vinatieri then missed two more extra points in Week 2 against the Tennessee Titans to bring his total of missed kicks inside of the 35-yard line over a five-game span up to seven.
Vinatieri said later that week he was working to the "demons" out so that he could clear his head. Colts general manager Chris Ballard worked out six kickers as potential replacements for Vinatieri that same week.
Vinatieri has missed a career-high four extra points this season. Two of those missed extra points would have tied the game. The rest of the league went into Sunday with a combined four misses, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Reich said the overall success Vinatieri has had in his career is why he's had no problem sticking with him as their kicker.
"It's 100 percent his track record, it's 100 percent talking to him every day," Reich said. "You know I am not just looking at the numbers, or evaluating the times and the kicks, how far he missed here or there, you look a guy in the eye and you know that this is the greatest kicker of all time, and I see every day what he does in practice, and our team has so much belief and confidence in him, I was real happy for him (Sunday), obviously, although he's done this quite a few times, but good for him and good for us that he is on our team."