There's a time-honored rule we all live by as writers covering games: There's no cheering in the press box. Adam Vinatieri caused me to violate that rule – twice.

Those two instances are a big part of the reason that Vinatieri became the latest kicker inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, joining Jan Stenerud and Morten Andersen as the only true kickers to earn such a distinction.

The moments in question need little explanation, and they came within weeks of each other back in the early days of 2002. The Patriots were at the dawn of the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady era and hit the postseason with little more than hope after an unexpected 11-5 season. With time winding down in New England's divisional round clash with Oakland in snowy Foxborough, it appeared as if that hope was lost.

Trailing 13-10 with less than two minutes remaining, there was little chance that Vinatieri could provide the tying points with a 45-yard field goal in such conditions, but there he was standing beside holder Ken Walter as the two tried to feverishly to clear a landing spot amid the snow. Then Vinatieri drilled a low line drive into the darkness of the old Foxboro Stadium, and soon a roar went up through the crowd indicating that he'd made the kick. Many have called it the greatest of all time, including Belichick, who would later watch Vinatieri connect on a chip shot in overtime to move his team to the AFC title game.

It was a feat that was so improbable that Vinatieri himself wasn't sure he could make it. "I'm not going to lie, when I kicked it, I saw it going straight and then I was like ... I don't know if it takes a second, two seconds for it to get to and clear the uprights," he said years later. "As I kicked it and looked up and saw it was relatively straight, I'm sitting there holding my breath saying, 'Come on baby, come on baby, come on baby.' I couldn't 100 percent tell it was good or not until the referee stepped forward and raised his hands."

Two weeks later, Vinatieri found himself back in the spotlight, and although this time it was under perfect kicking conditions inside the climate-controlled Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the field goal was no less important. His 48-yarder as time expired lifted the Patriots to their first-ever Super Bowl title, kicking off the greatest dynasty in NFL history that would ensue over the better part of the following two decades.

Each kick caused me to lose my professionalism, and those two instances remain the only times I've broken the unwritten press box code. I stood behind the end zone opposite Vinatieri's kick in the snow against the Raiders. As the ball sailed out of our view through the flakes, Fred Kirsch, Bryan Morry and I looked at each other in disbelief as we heard the crowd roar from the other end. Team PFW was ecstatic, and we didn't really care if it showed.

The scene at the Super Bowl was different as I was standing in a tunnel in the corner as Vinatieri's kick hit the net. I can't remember what I said if anything, but I do recall leaving my feet with a fist raised over my head. When Fred and Bryan made it down from the press box (I was in an auxiliary press area in the stands during the game), we were high-fiving and laughing as if we were part of it.

Each time it was Vinatieri's brilliance in the clutch that elicited such a response. It was his calling card as few kickers consistently delivered when it mattered most more often than Vinatieri. Two years later he drilled another walk-off in the Super Bowl, this time to beat the Panthers in Houston.

He would eventually make more field goals than any kicker in NFL history during a storied career with the Patriots and later the Colts. He was no less clutch in Indy, by the way, as he memorably went 5-for-5 in Baltimore to lift the Colts past the Ravens into the AFC title game back in 2006.

But it was those two kicks more than any of the other 654 he made during his illustrious 24-year career that landed him in Canton – and forced me to break the rules.

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