SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Because he grew up watching Adam Vinatieri highlight videos, Andres Borregales can’t quite put a number on how many times he has seen the walk-off field goal that won Super Bowl 36.
Somewhere between 1,000 and 1 million?
“Probably,” Borregales joked. “It’s up there.”
Vinatieri, who was elected Thursday to the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class, is synonymous with the Super Bowl.
He won four in five trips and scored the decisive fourth-quarter points in the first three Super Bowl wins of the Patriots’ 2000s dynasty.
The last of those three happened just after Borregales’ second birthday but not long before he began kicking at age 5.
Now he is the one in Vinatieri’s old cleats — metaphorically speaking — as the kicker for the Patriots in Super Bowl 2026 against the Seahawks.
“Seeing all the kicks that he made in [bad] weather and in Super Bowls inspired me,” Borregales said. “I think back to being in high school and the dream was to be in this league and especially in this game.”
And in this uniform?
“Oh, yeah,” Borregales said. “Doing it for the same team that he did is definitely special.”
Three of the last four Super Bowls — wins by the Rams and Chiefs twice — have been decided by three points. On the other end of the live-and-die spectrum is the Bills’ Scott Norwood’s miss at the end of Super Bowl 25 against the Giants.
In short, plenty of Super Bowls come down to kickers.
“I don’t allow myself to think like that because at the end of the day all I really care about is winning,” Borregales said. “Being the kicker is a very lonely position … but if we make our kicks then everybody loves us.”
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel was Vinateri’s teammate for three Super Bowls.
“Kickers are good teammates when they make their kicks, and that certainly was Adam,” Vrabel said recently. “It was very calming to know that if it ever came down to it, that he would be there to make a kick when we had to have it.”
Borregales and Vinateri met for the first time on the day of the AFC Championship Game.
In a symmetrical moment, Borregales made the tie-breaking field goal through flurries before it became blindingly impossible for the Broncos to tie the score when in range. Vinatieri’s signature kick was on the snow-covered field to end The Tuck Rule Game in 2001.
“We chatted it up for a little bit and he told me, ‘Have fun and do your job and [trust] you’re here for a reason,’ ” Borregales said. “He was like, ‘That was one of the worst games I’ve seen weather-wise because it turned into a blizzard all of a sudden.’ ”
If he is called upon again in Vinatieri-like circumstances, Borregales has “very high” confidence that he can write a storybook ending to his rookie season. He is 31-for-38 on field goals (playoffs included) with a long of 59 yards.
“I think of it as just another kick,” Borregales said. “That helps me stay calm under pressure and push it to the side.”
As long as the ball stays straight.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
