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The mercury read minus-3. The wind chill minus-24.Mr. Links of London Sale foot was bruised black from a ball that the cold had turned into a concrete block. Mr. Coughlin's face was an unhealthy shade of purple and with three minutes to play and the score tied, Mr. Tynes missed a field goal. Minutes later, with just four seconds left and the score still tied, he missed another, this one from 36 yards. And that directed all of Mr. Couglin's Technicolor ire at him.In overtime, cornerback Corey Webster picked off Brett Favre's last pass as a Packer and a couple minutes later, Mr. Tynes raced onto the field for a 47-yarder, not giving Mr. Coughlin any time to mull over whether he really wanted his placekicker trying another kick.Mr. Tynes made the kick and forewent any celebration to race straight into the warm locker room. And the next week, as he made the late-night rounds, the clip Links of London Bracelets Letterman forced him to watch was the one of Mr. Coughlin reaming him out."I'm a much better kicker than I was in 2007," Mr. Tynes said this week, as he thought back to that season, which ultimately would end in the Giants' February 2008 Super Bowl upset of the Patriots.Mr. Tynes is 32 now, in his 10th year as a professional kicker. He was 17 for 20 on field goals through the season's first 15 weeks .He'd made 14 straight heading into Sunday's game against the Packers, and neither the mystique of Lambeau Field nor the fact that a win would secure the Giants' playoff berth can cow him now."It's just about experience," Mr. Tynes said. "I've been to the big game. I'm ready for that kind of game. Being a kicker in this league, you learn on the job."Mr. Tynes started that job in 2001 in Links of London Gingerbread Man City, where the Chiefs signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Troy State. The Scottish-born Mr. Tynes --his father, a Navy Seal, met his mother while stationed abroad--played for NFL Europe's Scottish Claymores in 2002, then the Ottawa Renegades of the Canadian Football League in 2003 and then was back with the Chiefs in 2004.He was traded to the Giants before that 2007 season and he's now a fixture, with a locker next to quarterback Eli Manning's and a role as the rookie Mr. Dodge's mentor.Mr. Dodge earned Mr. Coughlin's--and Giants nation's--wrath last week, at the end of the one of the organization's worst-ever collapses. Up 31-10 on the Eagles with eight minutes to play and the NFC East title effectively theirs, the Giants gave up three quick touchdowns. With 14 seconds left, they were forced to punt.After a high snap, Mr. Dodge failed to kick the ball out of bounds, something inexplicable kept the 10 other Giants on the field Links of London Globe Charm tackling and the Eagles' DeSean Jackson returned the punt 64 yards for the walk-off, game-winning score.That brought the Giants to Lambeau for what was a must-win game-- a loss would still leave the Giants mathematically in the hunt for a playoff berth, but they'd need help from other teams--and it brought another spotlight on Mr. Tynes, who's played mentor to Mr. Dodge all year."I definitely feel more prepared to give him advice," he said. "I've been up, I've been down.