INDIANAPOLIS -- Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri passed Hall of Famer Morten Andersen for the most field goals in NFL history late in the first half of Sunday's 37-34 overtime loss to the Houston Texans.
Vinatieri made a 42-yard field goal with two seconds left in the first half to give him 566 for his career. He needed 38 fewer field goal attempts than Andersen to break the record. Vinatieri, a surefire future Hall of Fame selection, has made 303 field goals during his 13 years with the Colts and 263 during his first 10 years with the New England Patriots.
"It was kind of funny, I was thinking about it when guys were congratulating me during the game. It kind of hit me like, 'Wow, nobody has kicked more,' -- you know it just kind of hit me right like that. Wow, you know that's more than anybody else has ever done which is -- hats off to all of my teammates and all of the guys that helped me do that along the way," Vinatieri said after the game. "It's a team sport, you can never do it by yourself and I've had some amazing teammates along the way that have blocked, got us in range to kick field goals and all of that stuff. It's weird coming off of a loss, it doesn't feel quite the same way, but I'm sure in weeks, months, years from now I'll look back on it and it'll be pretty special."
Vinatieri should also pass Andersen for the NFL's all-time points lead (2,544) at some point later this season, barring some kind of injury. Vinatieri went into Sunday's action with 2,511 career points. Vinatieri, who is in his 23rd season and will turn 46 in December, has said he will not put a timetable on how much longer he plays beyond this season.
"I just feel like, stats always take care of themselves," Vinatieri said. "You know points and that and this, it's one of those situations where whenever you have an opportunity to go out there and hopefully make your kick and at the end of the year you look back, you figure it out. But, no it doesn't matter. I'm just happy to go out there and put some points on the board."