Tynes says he's OK but is irked by hit

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It's never a good sign when the kicker leaves the locker room on crutches. But Lawrence Tynes hobbled out of Bank of America Stadium with some aluminum assistance Saturday night convinced that his right knee suffered no injury. "It's a thigh bruise," he said. "Nothing is wrong with my knee."

That didn't appear to be the case when Tynes collapsed on the grass after being hit just above the right knee by the helmet of linebacker Sean Ware, who came screaming in and blocked his 44-yard field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter.

"I'll be honest with you; I have no idea what happened," Tynes said. "My head was down, I thought I hit the ball pretty well, next thing I know I saw a flash of a helmet. My knee feels fine; it's just my thigh is pretty sore."

Tynes will have an MRI Sunday. He's also looking for an explanation of why there was no flag on the play.

"What happened to the defenseless player?" Tynes asked. "I don't care if he tipped the ball or not, you still shouldn't be able to hit a kicker with his plant foot in the ground. I never left my plant foot so I don't understand where the hell the rule is. That was the epitome of the defenseless player. Whatever. I'm sure we'll hear about it and why it wasn't a foul.

"After a ball is tipped, I guess you can just hit anyone in the knee," he added. "I don't know the rule, I'm probably speaking out of turn, but I think it should have been a flag."

Giant stepsRookie S Tyler Sash looked confused covering TE Greg Olsen on two plays, including a touchdown, but recovered to break up a pass for Brandon LaFell in the end zone and caused a fumble in the second quarter . . . Veteran backup QB David Carr did not play for the Giants but is expected to get his chance next week against the Bears . . . Matt Dodge and Steve Weatherford alternated punting.