Tag: Lawrence Tynes

Lawrence Tynes: Eli Manning more qualified for Canton than Aaron Rodgers

Lawrence Tynes believes retired New York Giants QB Eli Manning is a “more qualified Hall of Famer” than Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.

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During the latter part of Eli Manning’s career, the debate started over whether or not the two-time Super Bowl champion would get the nod to be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he was eligible. Now, with his playing days in the rearview mirror, the debate continues.

While some of Manning’s accolades certainly put him in the conversation, many “Eli-haters” get stuck on his .500 record and usually fall back on the “well, if you take away the two Super Bowls” argument.

One of Manning’s former New York Giants teammates, kicker Lawrence Tynes, believes Eli happens to be more qualified for the Hall of Fame than a quarterback who will very likely get in on the first ballot: Aaron Rodgers.

The former kicker’s tweet came following an early exit for the top-seeded Packers in the divisional round of this years playoffs, which included the a sub-par performance by Rodgers.

Tynes had another former teammate, Dave Tollefson, step in and offer some support for the argument.

Certainly, nobody is suggesting that Manning is more talented than Rodgers. However, in a game played to achieve the ultimate prize of winning a Super Bowl, Manning has two Super Bowl rings to Rodger’s one ring.

Manning’s postseason resume is impressive and includes one win at Lambeau Field over the Rodgers-led Green Bay Packers on their way to Super Bowl XLVI. However, Manning’s more impressive Super Bowl run was the earlier of the two when the Giants took down the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

When it’s all said and done, Manning will likely get the nod but the question is more how many years will it take.

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Giants’ Joe Judge ‘pleased’ with Nate Solder’s progression

Nate Solder is starting over Matt Peart because the New York Giants are pleased with the veteran’s progression, coach Joe Judge says.

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The New York Giants have had a plethora of injuries along the offensive line this year and have resorted to playing players they would not rather trot out there.

The starting five of choice has been (left to right): Andrew Thomas, Matt Skura, Billy Price, Will Hernandez and Nate Solder. Skura and Price were preseason additions, Hernandez has been disappointing and Solder is clearly past his prime.

Matt Peart, a third rounder in the 2020 NFL draft, was supposed to take over the right tackle spot this year and has been healthy, but has started just four games.

Why? According to a source of former Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes, now aย New York Post podcaster, Peart “lacks intensity” and has made too many “mental mistakes” to be relied on.

Peart has played sparingly when the starting five are healthy and in the two games since the Giants’ Week 10 bye, he’s played on five and nine offensive snaps respectively.

That is not what the Giants envisioned when they selected him 99th overall last year. There was early talk that Peart could be the left tackle of the future over Thomas. That plan has been scrapped apparently now that Thomas has turned the corner at left tackle and Peart has not shown the growth in his second season the Giants had hoped.

Still, despite Tynes’ report, Giants head coach Joe Judge insists it’s more about Solder playing well than Peart underperforming in practice.

“We’re pleased with the way Nate has progressed and how he’s played throughout the year,” Judge told reporters on Wednesday when asked why Solder is starting over Peart.

Pro Football Focus grades Solder as one of the worst offensive tackles in the NFL (68 of 81).

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2007 Giants-Packers named one of best championship games since 2000

The 2007 NFC Championship Game between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers was named one of the best championship games since 2000.

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On Sunday, the two Super Bowl LV teams will be determined through the AFC and NFC Championship Games.

In the AFC, the Buffalo Bills will take on the Kansas City Chiefs, while on the NFC side, the Green Bay Packers will do battle with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And both games promise to be good ones.

But what are some of the best championship games since 2000? That’s a question recently pondered by Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon, who ranked his version of the top 8.

Interestingly, the 2011 NFC Championship Games between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers — arguably one of the best old school games in modern NFL history — earned only an honorable mention.

But the Giants did earn the No. 6 spot for their 2007 NFC Championship victory over the Green Bay Packers at a frozen Lambeau Field.

In this 2007 matchup with Eli Manning’s Giants, Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers held a 10-6 halftime lead. The offenses traded scores to begin the second half, and a Mason Crosby field goal locked the score at 20 apiece early in the fourth quarter.

Really, the Giants gave the Packers every opportunity to win.

Lawrence Tynes missed two field goals in the last seven minutes, including a 36-yarder as regulation expired. Green Bay won the overtime toss, too. But on the second snap, Giants cornerback Corey Webster intercepted Favre in Packers territory. It was the final pass of Favre’s career in Green Bay.

Tynes hit a 47-yarder and sent New York to Super Bowl XLII, where the Giants ruined New England’s perfect season.

What a game it was. What an upset it was. What a season it was.

The 2006 AFC Championship game between Payton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts and Tom Brady’s New England Patriots earned the top spot on Kenyon’s list.

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Throwback Thursday: Giants, Victor Cruz crush Jets’ spirit on Christmas Eve

In our latest Throwback Thursday, we revisit Christmas Eve in 2011 when the New York Giants crushed the New York Jets’ spirit.

The New York Giants have never played a game on Christmas Day. In fact, only four teams had done so before 1989 and that was in the 1971 playoffs when the league couldn’t avoid playing games on Christmas that year.

The Giants have played on Christmas Eve, however. Six times as a matter of fact. The first game was in 1989 against Bo Jackson and the Los Angeles Raiders in the bitter cold at Giants Stadium (I’m still cold from that game).

The latest game was in 2017 when they were shutout, 23-0, at the hands of the Cardinals in Arizona. In between there was a 9-7 victory against Dallas in 1994, a 35-20 loss in Washington in 2005 and a 30-7 home loss to New Orleans in 2006.

The most memorable Christmas Eve game occurred in 2011 against the New York Jets. Both teams were in playoff contention heading into this Week 16 matchup and needed to win out to qualify for the postseason. This was perhaps the most important game in the history of the rivalry due to the elimination factor.

Tensions were a bit high as the Jets tore down some the Giants’ Super Bowl banners in the runway on the way out onto the field. Head coach Rex Ryan then tried to psych the Giants out by sending former Giants star receiver Plaxico Burress out to handle the opening coin flip.

The Jets (8-6) scored first on a five-yard pass from Mark Sanchez to Josh Baker. The Giants countered in the second quarter with a Lawrence Tynes 21-yard field goal and the longest play from scrimmage when Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz on a short pass and Cruz did the rest, racing past several Jet defenders for 99-yard touchdown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek5Zyzn3Avw

The Giants never looked back. The defense played a stellar game. Ahmad Bradshaw’s 14-yard touchdown run near the end of the third quarter extended the Giants’ lead to 17-7. Tynes opened the fourth quarter scoring with a 36-yard field goal.

The Jets narrowed the Giants’ lead to six with a one-yard Mark Sanchez sneak but the Giants kept the Jets at bay the rest of the way. Chris Canty forced Sanchez into an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety and then Bradshaw iced the game with a 19-yard touchdown run to give the Giants a 29-14 victory.

“They did a lot of talking and we let our play do the talking for us,” said safety Kenny Phillips. “We will just leave it at that.”

“We know it’s going to be hyped up โ€“ it should be,” Giants defensive captain Justin Tuck said. “I know we did a good job of saying, ‘Talk is cheap, play the game’ all week, but we knew they were going to talk a lot and we talked a little bit ourselves. We’re not that innocent. The thing we did is we came out and backed it up. That’s the most important thing. It was a must-win game for us and we get to go off to the next round, play for a playoff berth.”

The next week, the Giants took out the Cowboys at home, 31-14, to win the NFC East crown. Four games later, they were Super Bowl champions for the second time in four seasons.

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Former NFL kicker Lawrence Tynes praises Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller

Two-time Super Bowl champ Lawrence Tynes thinks the world of what Vanderbilt’s Sarah Fuller has done

Sarah Fuller has kicked in two games for Vanderbilt, a squib kickoff, and two extra points. Her accomplishments have been praised by many and diminished by those who think the choice of the soccer goalkeeper was a stunt.

Former NFL kicker Lawrence Tynes won’t hear any of the nonsense.

Tynes, who played for the Kansas City Chiefs, New York Giants, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers told the Boston Globe making any kick is an accomplishment.

Per the Globe:

โ€œI think the most impressive thing she did, and Itโ€™s something I struggled with in college, was getting the ball off in 1.3 seconds,โ€ longtime NFL kicker Lawrence Tynes told Globe columnist Tara Sullivan Monday. โ€œPeople just see the kick, and because everyone can do that โ€” I mean we kick at high schools locally and we see people doing it all the time, theyโ€™re having fun, making kicks from 30 or 40 yards โ€” but from a game perspective, they would never get that kick off. Or itโ€™s too low. She got the ball up and got it off in time, something that took me a year and a half to learn in college. Thatโ€™s a long time, and I was a talented kicker.

โ€œKicking, to the world, has become something that everyone thinks they can do because weโ€™re so good at what we do, we make it look easy. Itโ€™s like a golfer hitting wedges at Augusta, they hit it to 2 feet. That comes from millions of reps, thousands of hours of practice.โ€

Tynes also challenged anyone who is being critical to try doing it.

โ€œKicking is kicking,โ€ said Tynes, a two-time Super Bowl winner who did not have a Power Five resume, having kicked for Troy State. โ€œI think itโ€™s awesome. Itโ€™s impressive. I didnโ€™t get into it with people on social media, but I saw them. She put herself out there and she tried it. Thatโ€™s the message. She put herself out there. She could have failed on those PATs, but she didnโ€™t. Everyone says that they can make it. I call your bluff.โ€

Fuller. meanwhile, said it looks like her career on the gridiron has come to a close. Vanderbilt’s game with Georgia on Saturday has been canceled due to COVID-19 issues.

 

Giants’ Daniel Jones has similar numbers to Peyton Manning over first 16 games

New York Giants QB Daniel Jones has very similar numbers to NFL legend Peyton Manning over his first 16 games.

New York Giants fans are searching for any ray of hope right now after the team has gotten off to yet another horrific start (0-4). The Giants are now 12-40 over their last 52 games, and if it weren’t for the pandemic, recession and the Jets being equally inept, the New York media would be burying them.

Quarterback Daniel Jones is only in his second season, and the Giants’ woes go back four seasons, but he’s become the poster boy for their demise. After a promising start to his NFL career, Jones has sunk to the bottom of the NFL pile as a player who keeps making costly mistakes that lose the already strapped Giants games.

Former Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes, a two-time Super Bowl champion, says better days are ahead for both Jones and the team. He posted this little stat comparison of Jones with the great Peyton Manning, who also had a rough beginning to his legendary career.

Jones has a strong relationship with both Peyton and Eli, having attended their camp and also trained with and been coached by their mentor, David Cutcliffe.

Peyton came back in his second season and went 13-3 in 1999. He won 10 or more games every season from then until 2014 with the exception of 2001 (6-10). He compiled a QB record of 200-92, second only in NFL history to Tom Brady.

Jones, of course, will need what Peyton had in order to get to that level — a good team around him. So far, the Giants haven’t really done that. Their offensive line isn’t protecting him, and he has very few weapons to establish a vertical passing threat.

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Former Giant comes to the defense of Daniel Jones

A former member of the New York Giants has come to the defense of second-year QB Daniel Jones, who has struggled so far this season.

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Whether or not fans had high expectations for the New York Giants this year, at the very least they wanted to see improvement, especially at the quarterback position.

We’ve known for a while that Daniel Jones can sling it, but through three weeks of the 2020 season, the second-year quarterback has left plenty to be desired on the field.

In fact, many fans are already starting to turn against Jones and have become tired of hearing about the need to improve and not seeing it not translate to the field.

Because Jones took over for one of the best and most well-liked quarterbacks in franchise history, the comparisons between Eli Manning and Jones will follow Jones throughout his career. But it was one of Manningโ€™s former teammates who took to Twitter to defend Jones following Sunday’s loss:

Tynes, of course, was on both Super Bowl-winning teams with Manning and he does make a pretty compelling argument in favor of Jones. In fact, many of the players on Manning’s list remained on the team for the first Super Bowl run.

Tynes is one of the more active former Giants on Twitter. While many fans are turning against Jones in favor of the “tank for Trevor (Lawrence)” campaign, itโ€™s nice to see a former member of Big Blue defending the young quarterback.

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Report: Giants to sign kicker Graham Gano

The New York Giants are expected to sign former Pro Bowl kicker Graham Gano.

It seemed inevitable and now it’s a reality: the New York Giants intend to sign former Pro Bowl kicker Graham Gano once he passes his physical and clears COVID-19 testing.

Former Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes was the first to report the transaction.

Seriously. We’re not kidding. Tynes broke the news and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network has since confirmed it.

The Giants found themselves in need of a kicker following the release of Aldrick Rosas, who was charged three misdemeanors, including reckless driving on a highway, hit-and-run property damage and driving on a suspended license stemming from an accident in June.

The team did sign former Jet Chandler Catanzaro in July, but the expectation remained that they’d eventually bring someone in to provide a little competition.

Originally signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent out of Florida State in 2009, Gano also spent time with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League (2009) and Washington Redskins (2009-2011) before joining the Panthers in 2012.

In 134 career games, Gano has connected on 82.1% of his field goal attempts and 95.3% of his point after attempts. His best season came in 2017 when he hit 96.7% of his field goal attempts and 91.9% of his point after attempts.

Gano, 33, had been rehabbing from a knee injury that caused him to miss the entire 2019 season, which led to the Panthers parting ways with him in late July.

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Former Giants kicker breaks news on Big Blue trying out kicker

The New York Giants are bringing in another veteran kicker in hopes of replacing Aldrick Rosas.

It’s tough to break news in this social media world. And it gets more difficult when athletes start to steal exclusives from reporters. Former New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes dropped some info on the team’s kicking plans Sunday.

The Giants are looking for kicking help after they cut Aldrick Rosas, who ran into trouble with the law this postseason.

Big Blue signed Chandler Cantanzaro, who retired last year after a sorry sting with the New York Jets in preseason.

Gano was the kicker for Carolina from 2012-18. He missed last season due to a leg injury and was cut at the end of July. The 33-year-old Gano was still under contract for an additional two years. He has hit 82.1% of his field-goal attempts, including a rousing 96.7% in 2017.

Tynes, in case you were wondering, kicked for the Giants from 2007-12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-glOi2jMoI

 

 

Giants legend Eli Manning may finally be joining Twitter

Retired New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is apparently giving consideration to joining Twitter.

Retired New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning avoided Twitter and all other social media platforms throughout his 16-year career, but with his cleats now firmly hung up, that is apparently subject to change.

Manning left the window open to join Twitter during a recent conversation with his former teammate, kicker Lawrence Tynes, who is pushing the future of Hall of Famer to take the plunge.

Tynes shared a portion of a recent text exchange in which Manning acknowledged he’s considering it.

“I had a really nice text exchange with a QB friend of mine telling him he needs to activate a Twitter account,” Tynes tweeted on Tuesday alongside a screenshot of his conversation with Manning. “Here is the reply, fingers crossed.”

“Thinking about it,” Manning wrote.

“Do it! You would go to 1m instantly!” Tynes replied.

Tynes was immediately hit with a series of tweets asking why he so desperately wants Manning to join Twitter, and he didn’t shy away from that answer.

“First question I get from anyone Giants or non Giants fan, ‘whatโ€™s Eli like?’ Heโ€™s [expletive] hilarious and awesome, thatโ€™s what,” Tynes wrote. “Most competitive dude I have ever met. Giants fans love him, America would love Twitter Eli.”

Tynes is right… Eli is a hilarious guy and America would love him. But will Manning finally crack and join Twitter? Time will tell.

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