Game-winner in '08 keeps Tynes kicking

Lawrence Tynes was the hero of the 2008 NFC Championship Game in Green Bay when he kicked a game-winning 47-yard field goal in overtime to propel the Giants to the Super Bowl. A lot of things would have been different had he not made that play. There likely would be no murals in the team's facility trumpeting that season, no third Lombardi Trophy in the lobby, and still plenty of questions about Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin . . . assuming they were still around.

Of course Tynes also knows what would have become of him.

"I wouldn't be talking to you right now," he said Wednesday at a news conference for the upcoming divisional playoff game against the Packers. "I mean, if you miss three kicks in the fourth quarter [and overtime] of a championship game, I would assume that I probably wouldn't be here. I was on a one-year deal anyway. I have done a great job since then, I have had a nice career here, but obviously you do have to think 'What if I didn't make that kick?' "

In the disposable world of kickers, that one kick gave Tynes something few have: equity and job security. The Giants have stuck with Tynes since then, even through the 2008 season when he barely kicked and his replacement, John Carney, went to the Pro Bowl.

"I think it gave him great recognition and great confidence," Tom Coughlin said. "He has been around for some extra years, but he has earned it."

Tynes said that field goal against the Packers was one he would hit about 70 percent of the time, but the way he bolted onto the field to attempt it before the coaching staff gave him the green light suggested he had better odds in mind.

"I had to make amends for two pretty poor kicks in the fourth quarter [that were no good]," he said. "So the fact was that I wanted to keep my job, the fact that I wanted to continue playing in this league, I mean all of those things, I knew I had to go out there and make that kick."

Coughlin recalled that confidence.

"I remember trying to have a sense for where he was and then the indication was that he thought he could make it by throwing his cape down and going towards the field," Coughlin said before mimicking the order he shouted on the sideline. "'Field goal!'"

The weather won't be quite as treacherous on Sunday as it was in January 2008, but Tynes said he will give himself extra time in warm-ups to get used to whatever the temperature is. It's not expected to be much colder than in the 20s for the game, but that could still affect a kicker.

There is a chance this game, like that overtime classic or even the regular-season meeting between the teams in December, could come down to a final field-goal attempt. Tynes said he is prepared for that. He's obviously seen the worst of what Lambeau can hand out.

"If I can make a 47-yarder when it's minus 25 [wind chill]," he said, "then we'll be all right."