dam Vinatieri’s weekend preparations have already kicked into full force

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A.He’s working with wet footballs https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Chester-Rogers-Jersey , determining his best footgear and getting ready for another potentially big day in messy weather. It’s become a trademark of the NFL’s best clutch kicker.After 22-plus seasons in the NFL, Vinatieri has figured out how to thrive in pretty much every element: rain, wind, sleet, snow, ice and mud.So it would be fitting if Vinatieri breaks Morten Andersen’s career record for field goals in a rainy, windy Washington this weekend.“They’re fun in their own way,” Vinatieri said. “I would prefer decent weather and clean games, if you will, but it’s fun sliding around out there and doing that stuff. It makes your job a little more difficult, but whatever the weather is, we’ll be ready to go.”Bet on it.Vinatieri doesn’t spend much time worrying about forecasts because the South Dakota native has produced some of his best work in the worst of times.Nobody will forget the two kicks he made in the Snow Bowl , or “Tuck Rule” game, to help New England beat Oakland in a divisional-round playoff following the 2001 season. It helped the Patriots capture their first Super Bowl.Last year, the oldest player in the league made a seemingly impossible extra point to force overtime in a December blizzard in Buffalo and helped keep the Colts within striking distance just 13 days later in monsoon-like weather in Baltimore.Last week, in the controlled environment of Lucas Oil Stadium, the 45-year-old kicker calmly made 3 of 4 field goals to move within striking distance of Andersen’s career mark (565). Vinatieri is at 562. He’s also 47 points away from breaking Andersen’s career scoring record.“Records are fun to talk about,” said Andersen, who scored 2,544 points in 25 NFL seasons. “Do they define you as a player? I don’t think so. But they can motivate you. I think Adam is more like me, he’s in the now and he wants to win, but he’s earned the right to celebrate it.”Technically, Vinatieri already has more field goals than Andersen, who finished with 583 including playoff games. Vinatieri is the NFL’s postseason record holder for scoring (234) and field goals (56); he has 618 counting the postseason, including two Super Bowl winners in the final minute.But his favorite kicks don’t even show up in the league’s official count.“Obviously Antonio Morrison Jersey , none of the playoff ones count in these, but the most memorable are those when it’s the playoffs and games are on the line and seasons are holding by a string,” Vinatieri said. “So yeah, I would say the Super Bowl, those two, and the one in the Snow Bowl game. Those are probably my top three if I had to rank them.”Along the way, Vinatieri has been surrounded by some of the biggest and best names in football history.He’s played for two Super Bowl-winning, Hall of Fame coaches in Bill Parcells and Tony Dungy, and a third, Bill Belichick, who seems like a shoo-in to make it when his career ends.He’s played with two of the league’s greatest quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and a third, Andrew Luck, who just might join the list one day.He’s won four Super Bowl rings, was the only unanimous selection on the Super Bowl 50 Golden Team, and has participated in a league-record 225 victories.And he still remembers asking Andersen, one of only two full-time kickers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, about the secret to his long, successful career. Whatever Andersen told him certainly stuck with Vinatieri, who has been around longer than a growing number of teammates remember.“I’m the second oldest guy in the locker room and my first year of playing football was his second year in the league,” said right guard Matt Slauson, who turned 32 in February. “So he’s not only had one incredible career, he’s essentially had two incredible careers with two different teams. It’s amazing.”Strangely, though Kenny Moore Color Rush Jersey , if Vinatieri does break the field goals record this weekend or this month, he’s likely to do it with two unfamiliar names assisting: long snapper Luke Rhodes and punter/holder Rigoberto Sanchez. Both are in their second seasons with the Colts. Rhodes was 4 years old when Vinatieri was a rookie in 1996, while Sanchez was 2.“You grow up watching him and then especially for me, I wasn’t even in this position two years ago,” Rhodes said. “I’m lucky and blessed to be where I am and pretty excited when the day comes he gets to break the record.”But neither has a choreographed script for a celebration. They’d rather let Vinatieri handle that part on his own — especially if it comes in a muddy mess this weekend.“For me, it’s more about an accumulation of a lot of years of work,” Vinatieri said. “Can I remember every kick? No. But you add them all together, and I won’t reminisce on any of that stuff until long after it’s all done and over, if it happens. I will appreciate all the guys that came before me and set those records so high, and to be able to play long enough to get close to them is pretty special.” OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Derek Carr avoided a sack, stepped up in the pocket and found Brandon LaFell for a go-ahead 6-yard touchdown pass late in the third quarter for the Oakland Raiders.He then let out a scream in his most boisterous celebration of the season, letting out the pent up frustration from one of the more trying weeks of his career.It proved to be short-lived relief as the Raiders collapsed again in the fourth quarter and lost for the sixth time in seven games this season, falling 42-28 to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.Carr’s no-good, very bad week that started with a trade of his No. 1 receiver Amari Cooper, featured reports questioning his toughness and his teammates’ belief in him as well as his long-term future with the Raiders ended with another loss.“I had to answer some funny questions, but you know I know that you guys have to do your jobs,” Carr said. “It’s nothing personal, I know that. It was different. If I’m being honest as a human, it was hard. A lot of the stuff that was going around, I was like, ‘Man, that’s just not true and that hurts.’ Especially just as a man, not even a football player. My goodness, enough is enough. Just to be able to go out here and play football again.”Carr played well https://www.coltsfanshop.com/Jeremiah-George-Jersey , throwing three touchdown passes and running it in for a fourth score. He completed 17 straight passes at one point and played turnover-free for just the second time this season.But it wasn’t enough to get the Raiders (1-6) out of their rut thanks to an even better performance from Andrew Luck and the Colts (3-5), who broke the game open with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.“I think he’s the strength of this team and I’m excited about him,” coach Jon Gruden said.Here are some other takeaways from the game:MOST POINTS IN NFL HISTORYVinatieri set the record as the NFL’s top all-time scorer in the first half. He kicked a 26-yard field goal in the first quarter to tie Morten Andersen with 2,544 points and then added a 25-yarder late in the second to set the record. Vinatieri scored three more points, giving him 2,550 for his career.“I never thought I’d play that long,” said the 45-year-old Vinatieri, who is in his 23rd NFL season. “I never thought I’d be standing here talking to you guys about all-time records. But I love my teammates — all of them — for the last 20-something years, unselfishly going out there and helping me do my job. A lot of great memories along the way. I think that’s the best part about this day — less the record and more that we got the record in a win.”TIGHT END TRIOLuck threw TD passes to tight ends Mo Alie-Cox, Eric Ebron and Jack Doyle, making the Colts the first team since the 1970 merger to get TD catches from three tight ends in the same game. Doyle’s 10-yarder put the Colts up for good but the most impressive was the first, a 26-yarder with one hand by Alie-Cox.“I don’t get too emotional on the sideline, but I got pretty jacked up after that catch,” coach Frank Reich said. “That was unreal. That catch will rival anything that we’ll see. Big time.”MIGHTY MACKColts running back Marlon Mack followed up last week’s career-best, 126-yard performance against Buffalo with an even better one. He ran for 132 yards and two TDs. This is just the sixth time the Colts have had a 100-yard rusher during Luck’s seven NFL seasons and the first time since Joseph Addai did it in 2007 that a back topped the century mark in consecutive games.“Definitely as a running back, more carries you feel like you get more comfortable in the game,” Mack said. “That really, truly helps you out. Even if you do get less, you have to make what (they give you) work.”MARTIN’S GAFFEThe game turned in the fourth quarter when Doug Martin fumbled on the first play from scrimmage after Luck’s TD pass to Doyle had given the Colts the lead. That set up Mack’s second TD run and spoiled what had been a promising day for Martin in his first start in place of the injured Marshawn Lynch. Martin had 13 carries for 72 yards and caught two passes for 17.“To fumble like that at the end, it sucks but a lot of guys went out there and played their hearts out,” Martin said. “They put it all out there on the field.”