ADAM VINATIERI

You've got to trust your steps, trust your guys that are on the field with you, and when the ball is on the ground, you've got to do that every single time.

People think kickers in general kick field goals. But kickers are actually good athletes; we run and work out just like the rest of the football team.

On teams that have won championships and got to the big game, there's a certain vibe and feel in that locker room. Everyone talks about how there's a brotherhood in that locker room, there's not a lot of dissent, there's not guys that go off on their own. It's a team atmosphere.

I have to make sure I get eight hours of solid sleep a night.

The way I look at it is, if you're going to play, you better put 100 percent effort into it all the time.

Obviously it's a statistics game.

I'm enjoying watching my kids grow and play sports. That's a ton of fun.

Selective amnesia is a good thing to have. So is good focus.

I mean, if I was going to leave New England, it wasn't going to be just for the sake of leaving.

I don't ever take an extended period off between minicamp and the start of training camp.

You try and take every kick exactly the same, no matter if it's the beginning or the last minute.

I just try to help my team win the best I can.

Coming from a small South Dakota school, it was a different route to get to the NFL. I went from South Dakota State to the World League of American Football with the Amsterdam Admirals, and fortunately I did well enough there that the New England Patriots decided to sign me and give me a chance.

As kickers, it's all about being able to block out the crowd noise, being able to block out certain aspects of the game, and just do your job no matter what the circumstances are.

The mental aspect of kicking is the difficult part. Physically, we still have to be in shape and perform on the field, but the thing that separates the ones who make it versus the ones who don't is definitely the mental side.

Eleven wins is hard to come by.

I like my smart-aleck self.

I'm a Red Sox fan, but I still have a lot of respect for Mariano Rivera, who's the best closer of all-time.

Three surgeries on the same limb, that's a tall order.

If anything, make a 50-yard field goal worth four points instead of three.

It's fun running out onto the field. It's much more fun playing in the playoffs.

I would compare kicking to being a closer in baseball. This whole game gets played, or the cake is made in front of you, so to speak, and you have to turn around and put the icing on the cake.

I don't know if I'm a clutch hunter, but I'm an avid one.

This is a hard enough sport when you're giving 100 percent. If you're giving anything less than that, it'll swallow you up.

Kansas City might be the loudest stadium that I've played in.