INDIANAPOLIS --- Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri knows this rivalry better than any player on either side, because he's spent a decade with both the Colts and the Patriots.
He's the only player in NFL history with 1,000 points on two different teams, and it just so happens that the fanbases of those two teams don't like each other very much.
So when Vinatieri is asked about the other team, you listen. And when he's asked about New England Head Coach Bill Belichick, you listen even more closely.
"I think he's a coach that always gets his team very prepared to play," said Vinatieri of Belichick Monday. "They put a good game plan forward, and everybody buys in and knows that if they can execute his game plan, they're going to have a chance to win games."
So what does Vinatieri expect of his former team on Sunday Night Football, the first meeting between the Colts and Patriots since the AFC Championship Game last season?
"I expect them to come in well-prepared with their hair on fire ready to play hard," said Vinatieri. "So we just have to match their intensity, and I know our crowd is going to be wild and crazy and trying to help us out on that too."
Vinatieri says he expects a few noggins to be flaming in the stands of Lucas Oil Stadium as well, in this much anticipated re-match.
"It's going to be an electric atmosphere and hopefully we play well."
Vinatieri has played the Patriots as a Colt 10 times since moving to Indianapolis in 2006. In those games against New England, Vinatieri is 14/19 on field goals (73.7%) and 24/24 on extra points.
