‘The other’ Manning makes it big

I’m not sure the last time I saw anyone go from goat to hero as fast as Lawrence Tynes did Sunday night.

Tynes put the New York Giants in the Super Bowl by kicking a 47-yarder in overtime. But in reality the game should have never gone to overtime.

Tynes had two previous chances during regulation, but duffed both attempts. He pulled a 43-yarder midway through the fourth quarter. Then he missed with :04 left on the clock from 36 yards out.

Maybe the last one wasn’t all his fault, the snap was a little high. After Tynes missed his first attempt, he trotted off the field and the camera showed coach Tom Coughlin giving his kicker an ear full.

Now the first thing my wife said to me was, ‘why is he yelling at him that way? it was a hard kick to make.’

My response to that was maybe because Tynes is getting paid large amounts of money to do one thing and that’s to kick the ball through the uprights.

With the added pressure of winning the game and sending his team to the Super Bowl I can see how he might have been a little shaky.

And let’s face it, he had not attempted a game-winning field goal all season, so I guess there was a little pressure on him.

I guess the most important thing is he got another Manning to the Super Bowl.

Eli Manning has been wearing the same shirt on his back his brother Peyton had to wear for so many years . He was labeled as the quarterback who couldn’t win the big games.

Over the past four games Eli has turned in a solid performance and Sunday night against the Packers, I thought he played his best game as a professional football player.

He hasn’t thrown an interception in the past four games and played a great final regular season game against the Patriots. I believe you could say that’s the game, which turned the entire Giants team around.

The Giants are going to get one more shot at knocking off the perfect Patriots who are now 18-0.

The score doesn’t show it, but I believe the Patriots had a little trouble with the Chargers. Brady had a slow start with three interceptions, and had to rally his team with two touchdowns in the second quarter and one in the fourth.

The Patriots are still the team to beat and regardless of how the Giants played New England a few weeks ago this is a whole new ball game.

The Giants are in uncharted waters, while the Patriots will fill right at home in Arizona.

The Manning and the Giants’ success during the past couple of games has been due to the other teams concentrating on stopping New York’s running game.

The Patriots on the other hand have a solid defensive backfield and the middle linebackers do a good job of plugging the hole and dropping back in pass coverage.

I still give the Patriots the edge in this one, but New England will have to run the ball in order to be successful against the Giants defense. I’m pulling for Eli, but I’m afraid this might be another Brady moment.