FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – There are no sure things in the NFL, but for the New England Patriots, there is the steady, reliable kicking of Adam Vinatieri.

Vinatieri, entering his eighth season as the Patriots’ placekicker, had four field goals in last week’s preseason-opening, 26-6 victory over the New York Giants.

“Adam has proven through the years – and not just last year or two years ago, but since I was here in ’96 and he was here as a rookie – that he does work hard and that his job’s important to him,” Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick said.

The Patriots have such confidence in the 30-year-old veteran, they opted not to sign another kicker for training camp for the second straight year.

“When they have confidence in you, they don’t bring in another guy,” Vinatieri said. “But they’re always a phone call away, and there’s plenty of people out there who’d love to have the job. So I think that at my position and every other position, you have to prove yourself every year.”

Vinatieri, who beat out veteran Matt Bahr in his rookie season, said he doesn’t necessarily need competition from another kicker in camp to devote himself to self-improvement.

“Every year, you evaluate from last year, and you say, “OK, what can we improve on? How can I help the team out?’ And you try to work on those things,” he said. “Unless you’re 100 percent on all your field goals and you kick every kickoff for a touchback, there’s always room for improvement.”

Vinatieri is one of only two NFL kickers, along with Denver’s Jason Elam, who has scored 100 points or more in his first seven seasons. Last year, he passed Gino Cappelletti to become the Patriots’ all-time leader in field goals made (187 to 176). Only Cappelletti’s touchdowns scored as a wide receiver have maintained the distance between him and Vinatieri at the top of the team’s scoring list.

It may take a few more years for Vinatieri to pass Cappelletti’s 1,130 points, but he vaulted past John Smith (692) in the first game of last season to become the team’s top kicking-only scorer with 803 points, with one two-point conversion in 1998 bringing his total to 805.

“When you start moving up the record books, you know that you’ve been around for a while and you know that you’ve done a few good things,” Vinatieri said. “All of us have long-term goals, but I guess the most important thing is every year to help make the team successful.”

Vinatieri is known for his clutch performances in the Patriots’ Super Bowl title run. In the “Snow Bowl” playoff game against Oakland on Jan. 19, 2002, he nailed a game-tying 45-yard field goal through a blinding snowstorm with 32 seconds left in regulation time, then made a 23-yarder to win the game in overtime.

On Feb. 3, he connected on a 48-yarder as time expired in Super Bowl XXXVI against the St. Louis Rams to bring the Patriots a 20-17 victory and their first championship.

Last year, Vinatieri made his first trip to the Pro Bowl. He successfully kicked 27 of 30 field goals – including a career-best 57-yarder – to boost his seven-year accuracy average to 81.7 percent, best in team history and fifth-best in league history.

AP-ES-08-12-03 1506EDT