Former Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri said his ex-teammate Tom Brady, coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft reached out to him with their own reasons for missing his Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony Saturday in Canton, Ohio.
During a phone appearance on WEEI on Tuesday, Vinatieri — who won four Super Bowls alongside the Big 3 in New England — explained that there’s no bad blood, despite some making a big deal of jokes he made about them during his enshrinement speech.
“Everybody has a busy schedule … There are other teammates that didn’t make it and I get it … Life, there’s a lot going on,” the 53-year-old Vinatieri said.
“I got a call from Mr. Kraft stuck on a tarmac and he was clearly upset that he wasn’t able to get his plane there in time. Coach Belichick reaching out to me months ago letting me know, ‘Hey, I’m sorry, I can’t make it in.’ Camp’s going on and all that.
“Tom called me before [and said] ‘I have this family vacation that I had lined up months and months ago and I just really can’t get out of it.’
Vinatieri added that Brady was his first text after a night of partying following his enshrinement speech.
“First messages I got at 7 o’clock in the morning after a 3 a.m. ending of a party, I got a little red eyes and everyone’s tired, you know what I mean,” he said.
“… First message I get was Brady, and he was like, ‘Man that was awesome. You stole the show. It was really really cool. I hope you have a hangover, ha ha ha’ … Bantering back and forth.
“Like I said before, there’s zero animosity. I love all those guys.”
In his speech, Vinatieri joked that Belichick wasn’t in Canton “because he is judging his girlfriend’s cheerleading competition” — referring to the UNC coach’s 25-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson.
“If you got mentioned in my speech, you’re very dear to me,” he explained on WEEI. “There’s no animosity. I know people want to start stuff, and I guess I gave you guys two days of good radio to talk about stuff.
“There’s no animosity. It was meant to be fun. And if you didn’t like it, that means you don’t have a sense of humor. So, I’m sorry for taking the wind out of everyone’s sails thinking there’s a big controversy. It was meant in fun, in good humor.”
Vinatieri’s entry into Canton came on the same ballot that Belichick shockingly came up short on after coaching the Patriots to six Super Bowl titles and winning two more as the Giants defensive coordinator.
Vinatieri joked that his wife warned him he couldn’t turn his Hall of Fame into a roast — although not even she was safe from his comments.
“Pat McAfee is here,” Vinatieri said of his former Colts teammate. “The only person who loved to hold my balls more than my wife.”
Belichick wasn’t the only one mentioned in Vinatieri’s speech.
His former Colts teammate, Peyton Manning — inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame 2021 class in his first year of eligibility — was also at the center of one of his jokes.
“And Peyton, thank you for generously donating your forehead for today’s teleprompter,” Vinatieri said Saturday. “A gigantic forehead means big brain and your football IQ is unmatched.”
Vinatieri also included a joke about “Deflategate,” the 2015 NFL controversy when Brady was suspended for four games over allegations that the Patriots intentionally deflated footballs below league regulation limits during their 45-7 AFC Championship win against the Colts.
Vinatieri played 24 NFL seasons with the Patriots and the Colts and earned three First-team All-Pro nods and three Pro Bowl berths.
He is perhaps the most clutch kicker of all-time, with two of his field goals sealing Super Bowl victories for the Patriots over the Rams and Panthers.
He retired with NFL records of 2,673 career points and 599 field goals.
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