Adam Vinatieri: 'No animosity' toward Bill Belichick, Patriots

Adam Vinatieri, one of the most important players on the Patriots' first three Super Bowl teams, became the fifth kicker to ever be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday.

Vinatieri made some headlines in New England with some of his comments during his speech, specifically some jokes that jabbed at Bill Belichick (saying he was busy judging his girlfriend's cheerleading competition) and the Patriots (including references to Deflategate and the contract negotiations that led to his departure).

Vinatieri joined WEEI's The Greg Hill Show Tuesday morning, alongside former teammates Ty Law and Jermaine Wiggins, to clarify that his jokes came from a place of love and that he felt no animosity towards Belichick or the Patriots. Listen to the full interview above.

"If you got mentioned in my speech, you're very dear to me," Vinatieri said. "There's no animosity. I know people want to start stuff, and I guess I gave you guys two days of good radio to talk about stuff. There's no animosity. It was meant to be fun. And if you didn't like it, that means you don't have a sense of humor. So, sorry for busting everybody's, you know, taking the wind out of everybody's sails, thinking there was a big controversy. It was meant for fun. It was meant in good humor. Maybe some people didn't think it was funny or whatever, but I enjoyed doing that."

Some also read into the fact that none of Belichick, Tom Brady or Robert Kraft were at Vinatieri's induction, and that there was more Colts representation than Patriots representation in Canton. Carlie Irsay-Gordon, daughter of late Colts owner Jim Irsay, introduced Vinatieri on stage.

Vinatieri again denied any hard feelings over their absences, saying that he heard from all three, and that Kraft actually was planning to go if not for plane troubles.

"Everybody has a busy schedule," Vinatieri said. "My list was a lot longer than that. There's other teammates that didn't make it, and I get it. There's a lot going on. I did get messages from all those guys. I got a call from Mr. Kraft, stuck on a tarmac, and he was clearly upset that he wasn't able to get his plane there in time. Coach Belichick reached out to me months ago, letting me know, 'Hey, I'm sorry, I can't make it in.' Camp's going on and all that.

"And Tom called me before, 'I got this family vacation that I lined up months and months ago, and I just really can't get out of it.' And you know what? First message that I got at 7 o'clock in the morning after a 3 a.m. ending of a party, and I got a little red eyes, and everybody's tired – first message I get was Brady. And he's like, 'Man, that was awesome! You stole the show. It was really, really cool. I hope you have a hangover. Ha ha ha.' So, again, bantering back and forth. Like I said before, there's zero animosity. I love all those guys."

Vinatieri also revealed that the Patriots will be celebrating the 25-year anniversary of the 2001 Super Bowl team at New England's Oct. 11 game against the Raiders, and that he plans to be in Foxborough for it. Patriots coach Mike Vrabel had previously mentioned the celebration, but not when it would take place.