How Clutch Was That?

Michael Lewis wrote a really good piece (almost all of his pieces are good, IMHO) in last week’s Play magazine about N.F.L. kickers and whether the great “clutch” kickers like Adam Vinatieri are actually much better than the average kicker. Lewis’s verdict: not really. It’s just that a few random kicks turn out to be highly memorable (think Vinatieri in the snow against Oakland, or Scott Norwood missing for Buffalo in the Super Bowl).

Vinatieri himself was one of the main characters in Lewis’s piece. So it sure was nice of Vinatieri to go ahead and make Lewis look even smarter by missing a 29-yarder last night against San Diego that would have won the game.

Jinx? Nah. It’s called the law of averages. And, especially when it comes to sports, regression to the mean.

The best thing about Vinatieri’s miss is that his Colts and my Steelers are now tied at 7-2 for the second-best record in the A.F.C. Could it be another charmed season for my beloved black and gold?