Adam Vinatieri Has Knee Surgery, Colts Ink Matt Stover

Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri was forced to undergo surgery on his right knee to remove some cartilage. Early Wednesday, the Colts announced the surgery has been successfully completed and they expect the 37-year-old to miss four to eight weeks with the injury.

In his absence, the Colts have signed 41-year-old Matt Stover to take over field goal and extra point duties. Stover had previously kicked for 18 full NFL seasons, all with the Baltimore/Cleveland franchise -- 13 for the Ravens after five for the original Cleveland Browns. He's a very accurate kicker, having made 83.7 percent of his career field goal attempts and 99.5 percent of his extra point tries. Believe it or not, Colts fans, losing Vinatieri for Stover actually doesn't hurt the team much, if at all.

First of all, the next few weeks shouldn't pose an issue for the Colts. They have a bye, followed by a trip to St. Louis, before taking on the 49ers and Texans at home. None of those games should come down to a last-minute field goal, otherwise you can blame other areas of the team for being in that position.

Secondly, the only area that really seemed lacking in Stover's game heading into the season was in long kicks. He hit on 22-of-23 kicks from under 40 yards last season. He was 5-of-9 from 40-49 yards and 0-for-1 on field goals of more than 50 yards. Not only will the Colts' offense generally get their kicker closer, but Vinatieri isn't all too different than Stover. Vinatieri hit 14-of-16 kicks from under 40 yards last year, 4-of-7 from 40-49 and 2-of-2 from 50 or more. He might seem to have more range, but he hadn't hit a 50-plus yarder since 2002 until last year. He's already missed a 32-yarder this year. Also, consider Stover has never kicked for a team who plays indoors in bad weather and has better career percentages in both extra points and field goals.

This isn't to say Stover's a better career kicker than Vinatieri, but, if he's not, the gap isn't very wide. All things considered, the Colts landed themselves a fine replacement kicker for the injured Vinatieri.