Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A Warning Shot

Tom Coughlin as much admitted that yesterday's kicker tryouts were more of a warning shot than a real threat to Lawrence Tynes. And when you think about it, what else could they have been?


Look who they brought in. Matt Bryant, a cut Tampa Bay kicker who may or may not have returned to full health from the hamstring injury that torpedoed his Bucs career in training camp, and Matt Stover, a 41-year-old great who now lacks consistent range from 40 yards and longer. There's still a good chance that one or both remained on Coughlin's short list. But one would think if he was truly serious about replacing Tynes that he would at least have invited Mike Nugent, the young ex-Jet the Bucs cut a couple of days ago.


Whatever the case, Coughlin yesterday hoped his message to Tynes came through loud and clear.


"He's our kicker," Coughlin said of Tynes, who leads NFL kickers with 41 points, but has misses from 21, 29, and 38 yards. "It's an on-going thing. We have to try to keep ourselves informed of who's out there, no matter what. We do have an issue we have to get corrected, let's face it.


"We have to stop -- these three points are going to become so critical going forward."

Tynes, as you'll see in this video, took it all with an understanding smile, and then offered some interesting insight on the problem.

EP

4 comments:

  1. Even Ben Hogan, one of the greatest golfers of all time, was a horrible putter. However, his abilty to perfect his long and mid range game won him numerous majors.

    Point is, Lawrence Tynes has one flaw: his difficulty being accurate on chip-shot field goals. His ability to make longer attempts and technique on kickoffs earns him his spot on the roster.

    In 2007, Tynes attempted 27 field goals over 16 games. Four games into this season, he's already attempted 13 field goals, putting him on pace to attempt 52 for the season. With all due respect to Coach Coughlin, I think his time is better spent figuring out how to turn those into touchdowns.

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  2. thegeneralfamilyOctober 07, 2009 1:59 PM

    Agree with your closing sentence Dnaiel, but Tynes "ability to make longer attempts and technique on kickoffs" are both average, AT BEST. Of course, that doesn't mean better than average is out there, but the chip-shot is far from playing the role of Kryptonite to Tynes...

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  3. Hey EP i know the WR have played better than we could have imagined, but are you a bit dissapointed the Giants didnt pull of the deal for Edwards and now we have to look at the those ugh jets with him?

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  4. After all the "me-first" headaches that Burress brought to the Giants, I doubt that they would be too interested in picking up another skilled-but-flawed prima donna like Edwards to the team.

    The Giants are blessed to have a package of great skills and a mature team-first personality in Steve Smith. Now that he's blossomed over the first 4 games, I don't think the Giants would give a second thought to a guy like Edwards, or TO, or Ocho-Sinkhole.

    Why is it that guys who play that position seem to be such jerks?

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