This kick was up -- and it certainly had the distance.
Adam Vinatieri has converted many clutch field goals during his Pro Football Hall of Fame career -- including a memorable boot in the snow that helped the New England Patriots reach the Super Bowl. But the former Patriots and Colts special teams star elevated his game on Tuesday with a world-record-setting kick.
According to Guinness World Records, Vinatieri achieved a world record for the highest altitude American football field goal successfully made. The kicker was 11,317 feet, 8 inches above sea level when he split the uprights at Jungfraujoch in the Swiss Alps.
According to Guinness, Vinatieri was promoting the Patriots’ game on Nov. 15 in Munich, Germany, against the Detroit Lions.
“The record-breaking kick was reminiscent of Vinatieri’s iconic 45-yard field goal in heavy snow against the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 2001–02 NFL playoffs,” the record entry states.
In a statement released by the Patriots, Vinatieri said Tuesday’s kick was “definitely one of the most special field goals I’ve ever made.”
Certainly, Vinatieri has kicked at Mile High Stadium in Denver and its successor, Empower Field at Mile High. But Tuesday’s kick was kicked from a much higher elevation -- at 2.15 miles.
“Snow is simply part of my time with the Patriots,” Vinatieri said. “But kicking a field goal at 3,454 meters is something completely different from anything I’ve ever seen in the NFL.
“You feel the altitude with every breath you take, your heart rate is different, your rhythm is different, and no one can really tell you beforehand how it will affect the kick, because no one has done this before. The fact that we were able to set the record under these conditions makes me very proud. This is definitely one of the most special field goals I’ve ever made.”
The Patriots have a history with snow that even predates that 2002 AFC playoff game between New England and the Oakland Raiders.
On Dec. 12, 1982, in Foxborough, Massachusetts, snowplow operator Mark Henderson cleared a spot for Patriots kicker John Smith during a snowstorm. Smith kicked what proved to be the game-winning field goal in a 3-0 victory over the Miami Dolphins, and the game has been called “the Snowplow Game” since then.
Vinatieri, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year, last kicked in the NFL in 2019, retiring as the NFL’s all-time leader with 599 field goals. He played for the Patriots from 1996 to 2005, and then spent the last 14 seasons of his 24-year NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts.
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