2. Lawrence Tynes in 2007
There aren’t many kickers who would be considered in the same article as Manning and Tittle, but Lawrence Tynes certainly deserves that praise. He helped the Giants capture so much glory during his time with the organization.
Trade
In May 2007, the Giants sent the Kansas City Chiefs a seventh-round pick in the 2008 draft for kicker Lawrence Tynes.
Giants Pro Bowl kicker at the time Jay Feeley signed a free-agent deal with the Miami Dolphins ahead of the 2007 season, leaving New York without a starting kicker. Tynes was brought in to compete in a camp battle with Josh Huston and Mark Hickok, eventually winning out and being named the starter for 2007.
Impact on the New York Giants
The Giants would make the playoffs, with Tynes finishing the regular season with an 85.2 FG percentage and a 95.2 extra point percentage.
In the NFC Championship Game, the Giants would find themselves in a close contest with the Green Bay Packers. Tynes would have two important field goal attempts in the 4th quarter. He missed both and likely had the Giants wishing they had gone a different way with their kicker decision earlier that season.
All was forgiven, however, when Tynes hit a 47-yard bomb in the freezing cold during overtime, sending the Giants to Super Bowl XLII – a game which they ended up winning against the undefeated New England Patriots.
Fast forward four years and the Giants were again in an overtime battle in the NFC Championship Game, this time against the 49ers in San Francisco. New York would call on Tynes, who hit a 31-yard field goal to once again send them to a Super Bowl against the New England Patriots – another game in which the G-Men came out on top.
To go along with the two clutch field goals, Tynes scored 586 points in his 81-game career in New York, a number that still ranks second in franchise history. The Giants received two NFC Championship-winning moments, as well as 586 points all for the price of pick No. 286 in the 2008 NFL Draft, a trade which is undoubtedly one of the most impactful in the history of the New York Football Giants.