When the Patriots won on Sunday, it was their 201st win with Tom Brady as their starting quarterback, the most for any quarterback in NFL history. But it’s a former Brady teammate who has been a part of the most winning games for any player at any position in NFL history.
The Colts’ win on Monday night was the 219th time in his career that kicker Adam Vinatieri has been on the winning team, counting both the regular season and the postseason. Via stats compiled by a Reddit user and Pro Football Reference, that breaks the previous record of 218 owned by George Blanda, the Hall of Fame kicker and quarterback who played an NFL record 26 seasons.
A kicker doesn’t make as big a difference as a quarterback, and so Vinatieri’s wins record doesn’t garner as much attention as Brady’s. But it’s still an impressive reminder of Vinatieri’s longevity, and of the fact that Vinatieri has played almost exclusively on good teams, dating back to his rookie season in 1996, when he was on a Bill Parcells-coached Patriots team that went to the Super Bowl.
After Vinatieri and Blanda, the next-most wins belong to longtime kicker Gary Anderson, who was on the winning team 212 times. Jerry Rice has the most wins for a non-kicker, at 210, and Brady is fifth among all NFL players at 201.
Brady will likely surpass Rice and Anderson next season, and perhaps Blanda, too. Whether he catches Vinatieri depends primarily on whether Vinatieri retires before Brady does. At the moment, they both look ageless.