Kicking game could be factor at Heinz Field

PITTSBURGH -- Adam Vinatieri earned a place in New England Patriots' lore with a 45-yard field goal in the snow against Oakland to force overtime, followed by a winning 23-yard kick.

The victory last week sent Vinatieri and the Patriots to the AFC championship game at Heinz Field, where swirling winds and questionable footing can be as problematic for kickers as a New England snowstorm.

"I've talked to people who have played there and it's definitely a tough place to kick," says Vinatieri, who has been in the NFL long enough -- six seasons -- to know he plays a position where a man can go from hero to goat within the same game.

That's been the problem for Kris Brown, the Steelers' kicker.

After missing just nine field-goal attempts in his first two seasons in the NFL, Brown missed 14 this season, including four against Baltimore in a 13-10 home loss.

But figure this:

Brown was 16-of-20 (80 percent) on the road but just 14-of-24 (63 percent)at home. He missed a 35-yarder last week at home in the 27-10 win over the Ravens that he said he hit better than the two kicks he made in that game. He also missed three extra points -- three more than an NFL kicker is supposed to miss in a season. Two of those three were also at home.

One more stat: Only three kickers -- Brown, Minnesota's Gary Anderson and Baltimore's Matt Stover made field goals at Heinz in its first season. And the Steelers allowed only nine field goals on 20 attempts in the regular season, the fewest allowed by any NFL team since 1984.

The trouble comes from the south end of the stadium. Except for a large scoreboard it is open to the winds coming off the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. New England coach Bill Belichick, who used to coach off Lake Erie in Cleveland, mangled that a bit this week when he mentioned that Heinz Field "is closed at the end away from the lake and open at the lake end."

Since a 9-for-18 stretch midseason, Brown has spent some of his Wednesdays at Heinz rather than at the Steelers' practice facility, kicking at both ends of the stadium to judge the wind currents as accurately as he can.

Vinatieri will not get to see the stadium until Saturday, when the Patriots will go through a short, walkthrough practice.