Lonesome Giants kicker pays attention to all the Tyne details

Tynes was alone again Sunday after the game. A winning NFL locker room is a loud, emotional place. Multiply that by XLII and you've got the atmosphere inside the Giants locker room. But Tynes dressed quietly, slipping his still-tied tie over his neck and buttoning every button on his double-breasted blue suit and pushing his hair just right and saying to no one in particular, "I've got to brush my teeth." He uses an electric toothbrush, if you're wondering. An electric toothbrush and Crest. Details matter.

Details certainly matter to Tynes. During his postgame news conference a reporter said to him: "During the regular season you were like 22-for-26. Is this the first time you missed two field goals in a game?"

And Tynes answered: "I was 23-for-27, and yes."

Two misses in one game -- in the fourth quarter, no less -- but kicking in this game couldn't have been easy. Both teams averaged less than 33 yards per punt. Kickoffs were stalling near the 15-yard line. The sub-zero temperature turned the ball slippery and hard -- so hard that it left bruises all over the top of Tynes' foot.

"I didn't feel it during the game," Tynes said. "But I feel it now."

Things could feel worse. Tynes could have missed that kick in overtime. Imagine being that guy -- the fastidious Scottish kicker who cost his team not one, not two, but three chances to get to the Super Bowl. Tynes briefly allowed himself to consider that possibility.

"Make the kick," he remembers thinking, "or I'm spending the night in Appleton."

Alone. As usual.