Lawrence Tynes is standing tall in the land of the Giants.
The Greenock-born kicker booted an overtime field goal to send New York Giants to another Super Bowl – in a repeat of what he did in the NFC Championship game four years ago.
It is being dubbed "deja blue" after the Scot made a 31-yard field goal – his second of the game – to give the Giants, nicknamed "The Big Blue" – a 20-17 win at San Francisco 49ers.
Once again, as he managed at Green Bay Packers four years ago when he also kicked the overtime winner, Tynes held his nerve with the eyes of America on him.
His kick set up a repeat of the 2008 Super Bowl against New England Patriots, who beat Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game, at Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on February 5.
Tynes, the only Scot to win a Super Bowl ring, revealed he had a dream that the NFC Championship would go down to the wire – and he would be the one to settle it.
"It's my second NFC Championship game and my second game-winner," he said, "It's amazing. I dreamt about this last night, only it was from 42 yards not 31.
"I was nervous before the game, just anticipating this type of game. I'm usually pretty cool but there was something about tonight where I knew I would have to make the kick. But this is amazing. We were almost 10 minutes into overtime and someone had to win."
Tynes immediately sought out his wife, Amanda, to embrace her and celebrate his historic kick that sent his team to Indianapolis.
The former Scottish Claymore is fiercely proud of his Scottish roots and had a Saltire in his locker at the Super Bowl four years ago.
Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin praised his team for their ability to win on the road in the play-offs – something that also happened in 2008.
That year, the Giants wrecked the Patriots' unbeaten season at the Super Bowl in Phoenix where Tynes kicked the first and last points of an NFL classic.
Coughlin clearly enjoyed the latest win at Candlestick Park which was his seventh play-off victory on the road in his coaching career, matching the record of the former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry.
"That was a tremendous game for those that really enjoy football," he said. "It seemed like no-one was going to put themselves into position to win it. Fortunately, we were able to do that."
Coughlin's job was on the line just last month when the Giants' play-off hopes were on a knife-edge after a loss to Washington Redskins moved them to 7-7 for the season. But they came good by winning their final two matches to get a wildcard play-off slot.
Tynes' big chance against the 49ers came when stand-in Kyle Williams fumbled a punt in overtime to set up the game-winning kick.
"It was one of those situations where I tried to turn it upfield and it just didn't work out," said Williams.
Quarterback Eli Manning, who was sacked six times, passed for 316 yards and two touchdowns, to tight end Bear Pascoe and wide reciever Mario Manningham.
Tynes kicked a 31-yard field goal in the second quarter and also made his two point-after-touchdown kicks.
"It was a tough game and we had to fight for every yard we got," Manning said. "The defence was outstanding and special teams getting us two turnovers was huge as that led to 10 points."
In contrast to Tynes, Baltimore Ravens' kicker Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal with 11 seconds left as the Patriots squeezed through 23-20 in the AFC Championship game.
Quarterback Tom Brady scored what proved to be the winning touchdown but also threw two interceptions.
"I sucked pretty bad today but our defence saved us," he said. "I'm going to try to go out and do a better job in a couple of weeks but I'm proud of this team and my team-mates."
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