Troy University Athletics
Trojan Trio at the Super Bowl Part Three - Lawrence Tynes
2/4/2012 3:54:00 PM | Football
As the New York Giants prepare to face off in a Super Bowl rematch with the New England Patriots this Sunday, the Trojan Nation will be watching closely as three of their own prepare to reach the pinnacle of their profession, some of them for the second time.
TroyTrojans.com will do a three-part mini-series of articles profiling those three Trojans: defensive end Osi Umenyiora, wide receiver/kick returner Jerrel Jernigan and kicker Lawrence Tynes in the days leading up to the biggest game of their lives.
For the final installment, we focus on Lawrence Tynes, who has cemented his place in Giants lore with his two NFC Championship clinching field goal kicks in 2007 and 2011. Prior to handling kicking duties for the Giants, Tynes became one of Troy's greatest kickers, inscribing his name into the record books.
While kickers usually don't come up in daily sports discussion unless they've committed a near-unforgivable blunder, Tynes has found himself in the spotlight for all the right reasons.
Not only did his 47-yard boot against the Packers seal the Giants' trip to Super Bowl XLII, Tynes struck again as his 31-yard kick in overtime deflated the San Francisco 49ers and has the Giants on a collision course with a familiar foe in the New England Patriots.
But it wasn't easy for Tynes, who was an undrafted free agent out of Troy. Despite hitting 47 field goals during his career, which spanned from 1997-2000, good for third-most in school history and totaling the fourth-most points in Troy program history with 268, Tynes found himself on the business end of a most unenviable task. He would have to compete against one of the greatest professional football kickers to ever lace up the cleats.
Tynes tried out for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2001 but was unable to overtake Morten Andersen, the NFL's all-time leader in total scoring and field-goals made. When unsuccessful, Tynes ended up playing for the Scottish Claymores of the now-defunct NFL Europe league. It was a nice consolation prize given that Tynes is of Scottish descent.
After one year of NFL Europe, Tynes suited up for the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League and exploded with 51 made field goals in a season. After another year in the Great White North, he then returned to the NFL, once again to try out for the Kansas City Chiefs. This time he was able to overtake Andersen and after some success as a Chief, he was traded to the Giants.
The rest is history.
“There are 32 guys in the world that do this. It's tough to get in. It's even tougher to stick around. Once you make kicks and make big kicks and be a consistent player, you'll last a while,” Tynes said in an interview with the Dothan Eagle.
Consistency defines Tynes. He has been successful on more than 80 percent of his kicks in the NFL. In addition to making the kicks he is supposed to make, and those that set him apart, Tynes seems to have intangibles that according to Troy head coach Larry Blakeney have allowed him to be successful.
“He has the 'it' factor, he came in here with that. He had to press the envelope to develop even further,” Blakeney said. “LT had a tremendous leadership quality. He was a team guy … he had a very positive effect as a leader.”
Perhaps this is why he was able to keep even cooler under pressure when faced with two crunch-time kicks, on which his team's Super Bowl aspirations rode. It also helps that Tynes has had experience in kicking in less-than-stellar conditions as Blakeney recounted a cold, wet day where Tynes booted in two field-goals against Stephen F. Austin University to account for the only points of the contest.
“They're both kicks to go to the Super Bowl and they have their own circumstance, but pressure-wise, they're both the same,” Tynes said. “I think having done it before really helped calm me down a little bit … it's a great feeling, to celebrate with your teammates most important, those are the guys that do all the work, you jump up, bang heads, slap each other around, that's the best part of it. Jerrel (Jernigan) was one of the first guys I found, so that was really cool.”
Tynes completes a Trojan triple threat that has the Giants perhaps poised to add another Lombardi to the trophy case.
“We're always talking Troy in there. For the most part, we've won more games than most of these other schools,” Tynes said.
Blakeney still wishes nothing but the best for his three former players.
“I love all three guys and appreciate all three for what they did here at Troy. We'll be pulling hard for them on Sunday,” Blakeney said.
Well, if it comes down to the right foot of Tynes on that fateful day … then it's no pressure at all.
TroyTrojans.com will do a three-part mini-series of articles profiling those three Trojans: defensive end Osi Umenyiora, wide receiver/kick returner Jerrel Jernigan and kicker Lawrence Tynes in the days leading up to the biggest game of their lives.
For the final installment, we focus on Lawrence Tynes, who has cemented his place in Giants lore with his two NFC Championship clinching field goal kicks in 2007 and 2011. Prior to handling kicking duties for the Giants, Tynes became one of Troy's greatest kickers, inscribing his name into the record books.
While kickers usually don't come up in daily sports discussion unless they've committed a near-unforgivable blunder, Tynes has found himself in the spotlight for all the right reasons.
Not only did his 47-yard boot against the Packers seal the Giants' trip to Super Bowl XLII, Tynes struck again as his 31-yard kick in overtime deflated the San Francisco 49ers and has the Giants on a collision course with a familiar foe in the New England Patriots.
But it wasn't easy for Tynes, who was an undrafted free agent out of Troy. Despite hitting 47 field goals during his career, which spanned from 1997-2000, good for third-most in school history and totaling the fourth-most points in Troy program history with 268, Tynes found himself on the business end of a most unenviable task. He would have to compete against one of the greatest professional football kickers to ever lace up the cleats.
Tynes tried out for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2001 but was unable to overtake Morten Andersen, the NFL's all-time leader in total scoring and field-goals made. When unsuccessful, Tynes ended up playing for the Scottish Claymores of the now-defunct NFL Europe league. It was a nice consolation prize given that Tynes is of Scottish descent.
After one year of NFL Europe, Tynes suited up for the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League and exploded with 51 made field goals in a season. After another year in the Great White North, he then returned to the NFL, once again to try out for the Kansas City Chiefs. This time he was able to overtake Andersen and after some success as a Chief, he was traded to the Giants.
The rest is history.
“There are 32 guys in the world that do this. It's tough to get in. It's even tougher to stick around. Once you make kicks and make big kicks and be a consistent player, you'll last a while,” Tynes said in an interview with the Dothan Eagle.
Consistency defines Tynes. He has been successful on more than 80 percent of his kicks in the NFL. In addition to making the kicks he is supposed to make, and those that set him apart, Tynes seems to have intangibles that according to Troy head coach Larry Blakeney have allowed him to be successful.
“He has the 'it' factor, he came in here with that. He had to press the envelope to develop even further,” Blakeney said. “LT had a tremendous leadership quality. He was a team guy … he had a very positive effect as a leader.”
Perhaps this is why he was able to keep even cooler under pressure when faced with two crunch-time kicks, on which his team's Super Bowl aspirations rode. It also helps that Tynes has had experience in kicking in less-than-stellar conditions as Blakeney recounted a cold, wet day where Tynes booted in two field-goals against Stephen F. Austin University to account for the only points of the contest.
“They're both kicks to go to the Super Bowl and they have their own circumstance, but pressure-wise, they're both the same,” Tynes said. “I think having done it before really helped calm me down a little bit … it's a great feeling, to celebrate with your teammates most important, those are the guys that do all the work, you jump up, bang heads, slap each other around, that's the best part of it. Jerrel (Jernigan) was one of the first guys I found, so that was really cool.”
Tynes completes a Trojan triple threat that has the Giants perhaps poised to add another Lombardi to the trophy case.
“We're always talking Troy in there. For the most part, we've won more games than most of these other schools,” Tynes said.
Blakeney still wishes nothing but the best for his three former players.
“I love all three guys and appreciate all three for what they did here at Troy. We'll be pulling hard for them on Sunday,” Blakeney said.
Well, if it comes down to the right foot of Tynes on that fateful day … then it's no pressure at all.
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