Dodge, Weatherford to get their kicks

Lawrence Tynes said he’s feeling better with the bruise on his leg and could be back kicking by later this week, but he’ll still be missing some time on the field. The plan, as of now, if to have punters Matt Dodge and Steve Weatherford split the kickoff and placekicking duties until Tynes returns.

Tom Coughlin sounded hesitant about doing that on his conference call Sunday night, not wanting to disrupt the punting competition. But Dodge said that’s what he’s been told will happen. “We’re both going to do it and we’ll see how it goes,” he said.

Dodge said he is excited about the opportunity. “I’ve always loved to do that,” he said of place kicking, which he did a little bit in college but hasn’t done full-time since high school. He also pointed out that it gives him another thing to be able to do which comes in handy when teams are trimming rosters. Dodge had already been doing some kickoffs last week when Tynes was resting his sore left quad. Tynes said even when he does return healthy, he wouldn’t mind handing that part of his job over to Dodge or some other punter.

As for his range on field goals, Dodge just laughed.

“Jeez,” he said, “let me hit one first!”