It's About Tynes! The New York Giants Will Represent The NFC In The Super Bowl

First, I would like to begin by saying the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants have something in common. That is, both of their kickers failed both Mannings. Peyton Manning's kicker, Mike Vanderjagt failed him years ago and now Eli Manning's kicker, Lawrence Tynes, failed him as well. However, unlike Vanderjagt, Tynes was given a second chance and came through on the his second attempt to help send Eli Manning and the Giants to the Super Bowl.

The unbeaten Pats punched their ticket to Arizona earlier in the day. No surprise there. The twist? To win their fourth Super Bowl in seven years, they'll have to deny Eli Manning.

A suddenly matured Manning guided the Giants to their ninth straight road win Sunday, a frostbitten 23-20 overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers for the NFC championship. The Giants grabbed their first NFC championship in seven years, capping a month long surge that reversed a trend of mediocrity built around Manning's inconsistency. He has been a revelation in the playoffs, however, and his calm leadership keyed New York's turnaround.

This game was quite entertaining and dramatic all the way down to the last quarter...and longer. Eli Manning played nearly to perfection, throwing for 254 yards. Though he did not throw a touchdown, he also did not throw any interceptions. Speaking of interceptions, Favre threw two of them and the last interception he threw cost the Packers the game in overtime because it set the Giants up for the game winning field goal. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw both switched off running all over the Packers. Jacobs ran for 67 yards and Bradshaw ran for 63 yards and they both had a touchdown each. On the Packers side, Ryan Grant was shut down with only 29 rushing yards. Finally, Plaxico Burress completely schooled Al Harris with 154 receiving yards.

After Lawrence Tynes missed a 36-yard field goal at the end of regulation following a bad snap, he got a reprieve in overtime following Corey Webster's interception of a struggling Brett Favre. He nailed a 47-yarder, then sprinted directly to the locker room as the rest of his frozen teammates celebrated on the field.

The Giants deserved to win this game, especially after their game winning touchdown was taken away from them towards the end of the fourth quarter because of a questionable holding call.

Now comes Mission Impossible for Manning and the Giants, who will play the unbeaten New England Patriots in two weeks for the NFL title. The Giants came very close to beating the Patriots in the final game of the season, but we all know how that worked out.

New York Giants Advance In The Playoffs

As long as it's on the road, the New York Giants can't complain.

The Giants moved to 8-1 away from home with a dominating 24-14 NFC-wild-card playoff victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday. New York has won every away game since falling in its season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, and it gets a chance to diminish that blemish in a much bigger matchup next Sunday, with the winner going to the conference title game.

"We love playing there, we love going down to Dallas," Eli Manning said. "There are no secrets.

"It's a tough challenge against Dallas, we know that. We played them two times; maybe the third will be the charm."

As for concerns the Giants (11-6) left too much of themselves on the field in futilely trying to stop New England's perfect season on Dec. 29, well, forget it. After a lackluster first quarter, New York bullied the NFC South champions, who lost three of their last four regular-season games, including the final two when coach Jon Gruden rested many starters.

"We weren't sluggish, but it was not like we were the week before," said Giants veteran receiver Amani Toomer, who had a big game. "We needed one play to get us going and for me to be the guy, I was excited."

He was the guy often, making seven receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown.

It was the first postseason win after two defeats for Manning, who efficiently outplayed his counterpart, Jeff Garcia. Manning went 20-of-27 for 185 yards, with almost all the damage coming after a forgettable opening period in which New York had minus-2 yards of offense.

The oft-criticized Manning should draw nothing but praise for his performance, which included touchdown passes of 5 yards to Brandon Jacobs and 4 to Toomer. The score by Toomer completed a clinching 92-yard, 15-play drive.

"Eli had a great game today," Toomer said. "He took what was out there and didn't force anything. He doesn't get real excited; there is more than one way to lead a team ... and he showed that today."

The defense also showed up with a superb effort in the three quarters. Cornerback Corey Webster's interception and fumble recovery, and Michael Strahan's nine tackles and a sack led the way. Tampa Bay (9-8) gained only 166 yards before a late 88-yard drive made it 24-14.

"I think as a team we seem to perform better on the road," Strahan said. "I didn't know we won eight in a row. That's a great thing, because when it's the playoffs, if we're going to go as far as we want, we have to win every game on the road."

Jacobs also had an 8-yard TD run for the Giants, while Lawrence Tynes kicked a 25-yard field goal.

Earnest Graham ran for a 1-yard touchdown and Alex Smith had a 6-yard scoring reception for the Bucs, who have not won a postseason game since the Super Bowl in January 2003.

They didn't seem particularly impressed by Manning or the Giants' offense.

"He made little, annoying third-down conversions when he needed to," linebacker Barrett Ruud said. "If it is third-and-8, he gets 8 1/2 yards. That was frustrating."

The first quarter was so lopsided the Giants never picked up a first down. Meanwhile, Garcia, who beat the Giants in two previous playoff starts against them, led the Bucs on a 54-yard, 10-play march. It was highlighted by Graham, who capped it with a 1-yard TD run. Graham gained 41 yards on the drive.

But when the second quarter arrived, the visitors woke up. Manning found Toomer for 17-, 10- and 13-yard gains before Jacobs avoided Derrick Brooks to tie it on his 5-yard reception.

Six minutes later, New York led as Jacobs scored on an 8-yard run. Manning completed all four passes on the 65-yard drive, including a 21-yarder to Steve Smith on third down.

By halftime, the flag-waving Bucs fans had been silenced by the power running and precise passing of the Giants, who were up 14-7.

It got worse immediately for the locals when Micheal Spurlock, the only Buc to return a kickoff for a touchdown in their four decades, fumbled his runback to open the second half. Webster recovered at the Tampa 30 and the Giants got to the 4 before Tynes made his field goal.

Webster, starting only because Sam Madison was injured against the Patriots, contributed again moments later to foil a good Tampa Bay drive. He shadowed Joey Galloway to the end zone and picked off Garcia's weak pass.

"That was a bad decision by me," Garcia admitted. "I was just trying to make a play and Webster had very good coverage on the play."

The Bucs, who led the NFC with a plus-15 turnover margin, were minus-2 in a span of 8:50 of the third period and never recovered.

"That's huge, the play of the day," Gruden said of the fumble. "That play and the long 92-yard drive.