INDIANAPOLIS — The last couple days have been a waiting game for Adam Vinatieri and the Indianapolis Colts.
The veteran kicker told reporters today that he was experiencing a little bit of pain in his left knee prior to and during Sunday's Week 13 matchup against the Tennessee Titans. That pain increased heading into this week, leading to him landing on the team's injury report for the first time all season.
Vinatieri, who was a limited participant in Wednesday's practice and officially did not participate on Thursday, is now awaiting the results of an MRI which could help provide clarity for both his immediate status this Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as his status for the remainder of the 2019 season.
"Not stressing it too much today," Vinatieri said when asked how his knee was feeling before Thursday's practice. "(I'm) just doing treatment and stuff like that. I won't kick today obviously — I don't kick on Thursdays, anyway. So we'll see how it feels moving forward."
The 24-year veteran said he first began experiencing issues with his left non-kicking knee during training camp. With Cole Hedlund also on the 90-man roster to help handle kicking duties, Vinatieri would kick in just one preseason game — hitting his one field goal attempt and both extra-point tries Aug. 24 against the Chicago Bears — but "got it under control" with rest heading into the regular season.
But then, prior to Sunday's game against the Titans at Lucas Oil Stadium, head coach Frank Reich said Vinatieri "was having some problems with the knee, gutted it out, was fine … did what he had to do to get through the game," but "then came out here early this week, and it's just not responding the way I think he was looking for it to respond."
"So (he) got some scans on it," Reich said Wednesday in an appearance on SiriusXM NFL Radio. "We'll consult with the doctors, figure out what we need to do and monitor it as the week goes on."
Depending on the results of Vinatieri's MRI, the kicker said it'll be a group decision to determine his status moving forward. In the meantime, the team on Wednesday claimed rookie kicker Chase McLaughlin off waivers from the San Francisco 49ers just in case Vinatieri is unable to go on Sunday against the Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.
"Docs and trainers and everybody will put their two cents in and we'll see if we can go," Vinatieri said. "If I can go, I'll go."
