"The statistics show that Stephen Gostkowski has been a better kicker than Adam Vinatieri over the last six years. He has made a higher percentage of field goals in his career and missed only one extra point.

Since Vinatieri left the Patriots for the Colts as a free agent following the 2005 season, Gostkowski has made 84.4 percent of his field goals and Vinatieri 82.9 percent.

The trend holds in the postseason. Gostkowski has made close to 87 percent of his field goals and Vinatieri a little more than 83 percent.

The differences are slight, but enough to lend credence to the idea that the Patriots did not take a step back when they replaced the popular and dependable Vinatieri with a rookie from the University of Memphis."