From head to toe

His breathing pattern compares to that of an Olympic champion just after a 400-meter run.

His heart is pounding at an abnormal beat akin to playing a 33-r.p.m. album on a 78-speed record player.

Perspiration flows as if a dam had burst just above his hairline.

The phrase ``so nervous, he's shaking like a leaf," is more understatement than cliché.

This is what goes on in the body of the man who, in the ultimate team sport, holds victory or defeat in his hands (or more accurately, in his feet.)

There can be no more pressure on a player than when a football game comes down to one kick. Make it, you win; miss it, you lose. Make it, you're a champion; miss it, you're a choker.

What's going on in his mind depends on the player. One might be living in the past, thinking about that kick he missed that would have beaten a rival junior high school more than 10 years ago. Another might be too far into the future, contemplating which direction he is going to run off the field amid the celebration if he makes it.

Still another -- the best of the best -- is thinking, ``Routine, routine, routine . . . 1, 2, 3, kick."

``A field goal kicker has plenty of time to think about the situation," said Dr. Eric Morse, president of the International Society for Sport Psychiatry.

``They're often left alone. They practice by themselves, and before kicks nobody talks to them. They kick into that little net and don't interact with any other players.

``Getting control of that anxiety, or nervousness, is key to being able to perform under pressure. Kickers have to have good mental skills to avoid being consumed by the moment."

It is those moments that former Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri relishes. It is when he is at his best. Others say they want to be in that position, but Vinatieri, now with the Indianapolis Colts, really means it.

Little wonder, with field goals that have won 20 games, including two Super Bowls, to his credit.

``Success builds upon success," Dr. Richard Lustberg, a psychologist, said. ``What happened is once Vinatieri began to make those kicks, he psychologically morphed, he changed, and began to believe with certainty he was going to make those kicks. His persona changed and it only increased his confidence and built on the psychological makeup that was there to start.

``As the legend grew, he grew. I guarantee you he went out there knowing he was going to make those kicks.

``He's the greatest pressure kicker of all time. There is nobody better. In a game, if you want to have a kicker out there, it's a no-brainer. I tell you what, if somebody put a gun to my head, and said I'd die if the kicker misses, I'd want Adam Vinatieri out there."

The Patriots now will have Stephen Gostkowski, a rookie from Memphis, on the field in those pressure-filled, game-winning situations.

``Kicking, you're going to have a bad day every once in a while, you just have to [minimize] the number of them," Gostkowski said recently. ``If you're going to miss, miss one, don't miss two.

``Everything is minute in kicking. It's hard to explain. Just fine-tuning, like a stroke in golf, that's what I'm trying to do now. Try out different things, like a golf swing. If I'm doing something wrong, change it. It's day-to-day of being consistent."

Sports psychologists say the best way for Gostkowski to miss one, and not miss two, aside from making technical adjustments, is to erase the miss from memory.

``I think players have to understand a couple of things, if you look at the basic tenets of sports psychology," Lustberg said. ``The first one is that the last at-bat, the last play, is out of your mind. Thus, you never get too high and never get too low."

Highs and lows are one thing, but the anxious moments before a winning field goal try are difficult to overcome.

Beer-guzzling fans have staggered out of the stands to make field goals for a promotional prize, so while there is a technical understanding the elite share, there is little physical difference between the worst kicker in the NFL and the best. It's mental makeup that separates the best from the rest.

The Dallas Cowboys' Mike Vanderjagt is the most accurate kicker in NFL history, yet he recently misfired on two relative chip shots in overtime of a preseason game. Nagging injuries to his legs may have contributed to those misses, but he has no such excuse for the wayward attempt against Pittsburgh in the playoffs last season while with the Colts.

Vanderjagt's try from 46 yards would have tied the game in the final seconds. Instead, the Steelers were victorious and went on to win the Super Bowl.

Having not missed a field goal inside the RCA Dome all season, certainly Vanderjagt failed mentally as much as physically on a kick that was off line from the start and way off line at the end, eliciting questions of whether he can handle the pressure.

``I don't choke," Vanderjagt recently told USA Today. ``I'm not a choker."

Vinatieri hasn't missed in such a situation since hitting the upright on a would-be winner against Kansas City Oct. 10, 1999. In three years with the Patriots at that time, he already had made six winning kicks, but a poor hold by punter Lee Johnson contributed to his only miss in that situation as a professional.

``I let the team down," Vinatieri said after the 16-14 loss to the Chiefs. ``We needed it and I let them down.

``I thought when it left my foot it had a chance, but it never moved. I hit it hard enough but I just pushed it to the right. Thirty-two yards? I need to hit every one of those."

And he pretty much has ever since.

``Look at the comments that [Vanderjagt] makes and the comments that Vinatieri makes, and you can see the difference between the two of them," said Lustberg, who contributes columns at www.psychologyofsports.com.

Morse, who is with Carolina Performance/American Institute of Healthcare and Fitness, said Vinatieri may have been born with the ability to keep his head when all about him are losing theirs.

``Either he's taught himself these mental skills, or a coach has, or he just has a genetic predisposition to not respond to these neurohormones like normal people," said Morse. ``He's insensitive to the cascade of stress hormones in those game-winning situations.

``A lot of it is genetic. He faces the flight/fight response and is still able to perform well under pressure.

``You have a cascade of natural stimulus that occurs when you get under stress. In those situations, that's what increases your heart rate, that's what makes you sweat and makes you nervous. That's what gives you energy, but almost too much energy. It changes your body mechanics, especially for a kicker.

``Sometimes they can short-leg it without even knowing it. That's why they can miss a chip shot by a mile. It's something like a panic disorder, a very similar situation. It's a neurological firing at an inappropriate time."

The physical effect doesn't stop there.

``What happens is you don't get enough oxygen to the brain, so you're not thinking clearly, your judgment is impaired and you make wrong decisions," Morse said. ``If you don't have good mental skills, your body produces so much noradrenaline and adrenaline, that your heart rate goes up, your breathing rate goes up, you're less coordinated, you start to shake."

One way Vinatieri controls the pressure is by bringing it to the practice field.

``I try to put as much importance as I can on every kick, whether it's in training camp, the offseason, or on the practice field when I'm the only one out there," he once told the Globe. ``That way it feels normal when I step into a game.

``I don't want it to feel different. I want the same rhythm."

Morse said that approach minimizes the cascade of stress hormones that are detrimental to performance.

``You take yourself out of the situation to a certain extent and put yourself in a practice situation," he said.

``You can prevent the release of those hormones by imagery; by visualizing and trying to make that kick just like all the other kicks you've had in practice."

Gostkowski is now taking all the practice kicks for the Patriots, and he likely will be called upon to win a game or two this season. While the fandom is holding its collective breath, the rookie had better hold his breathing in check.

``Regulating your breathing pattern and regulating your heart rate to get into a proper physical zone, you will be able to get into a good mental zone," Morse said. ``By controlling your breathing rate, you can slow down your heart rate.

``That would be an important step to handling a high-pressure situation like a game-winning field goal try. You wouldn't be at this level if you couldn't do the job physically. How you do mentally will determine your long-term success."

And quite often victory and defeat.

Mike Reiss of the Globe staff contributed to this report.