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San Francisco • New York kicker Lawrence Tynes didn't quite follow his dream's script. The kick he made Sunday night in overtime had the same impact, though, sending the Giants to the Super Bowl on a rainy San Francisco evening.
Tynes kicked a 31-yard field goal with 7:06 left in overtime to give the Giants a 20-17 victory against the 49ers in the NFC championship game at Candlestick Park.
The night before, Tynes was awakened in his hotel room by a dream that he had won the game with a 42-yard field goal.
"It was just a dream, a typical kicker dream," he said in the Giants' jubilant locker room. "I was a little more full of anxiety today, I'm usually not that nervous before a game. I think a lot of it had to do with conditions. Who knows why I dreamed last night that I would kick a game-winner?"
It wasn't the first time for Tynes, who sent the Giants to the Super Bowl four years ago with a 47-yard field goal in overtime against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.
Sunday night, Tynes, 33, got his chance when Kyle Williams of the 49ers fumbled on a punt return and the Giants recovered at the San Francisco 24-yard line. Three runs by Ahmad Bradshaw got the ball closer to the goal line, setting up the kick that put the Giants in the Feb. 5 Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.
Before the field goal, Tynes spent about 15 minutes behind the Giants' bench, kicking over and over into a net. He'd stop at points to watch the game on a huge stadium screen, but stayed off the Giants' sideline.
He quickly retied the laces on his right shoe after the 49ers' fumble. The right-footed kicker, a nine-year veteran who has been with the Giants since 2007, walked slowly toward the sideline as New York ran four plays, and checked his cleats for mud before trotting on for the kick.
"The weather was terrible, the balls were wet, the balls were full of grass," he said. "It was tough sledding out there. The moisture, the footing was tough, the balls were really slick."