Why Sunday's win was so special for Eagles' veteran cornerback
Why Sunday's win was so special for Eagles' veteran cornerback originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
TAMPA - Parry Nickerson waited a long time for Sunday. Seven hundred and seven days to be exact
The 30-year-old cornerback hadn't played in a regular season NFL game since Oct. 22, 2023. On that day, Nickerson was a member of the Miami Dolphins, playing under Vic Fangio against the Philadelphia Eagles.
On Sunday, Nickerson was wearing Eagles green for his first action in almost two years.
I try to keep it neutral but my emotion was high," Nickerson said in the winning locker room at Raymond James Stadium. My first game back in a while. It was fun to be out there, really.
It felt good to be back out there. Special to be with this group of guys that I play with. The whole team collectively. It felt great to be out there and help the team get the W."
It was a long road for Nickerson. Despite having a strong training camp, he didn't make the Eagles' 53-man roster at final cuts and had been on the practice squad for the first three weeks of the season. He was promoted to the active roster on Wednesday after three players were put on IR.
And in the 31-25 win over the Buccaneers on Sunday, Nickerson played 14 snaps on special teams and 3 snaps on defense.
He waited almost all game to get on the field on defense but when he got his opportunity, he made the most of it. Nickerson was in coverage on 4th-and-9 on the Buccaneers' final offensive play. He tackled Cade Otton after a 2-yard gain to essentially end the game.
You know the motto," Nickerson said. They say stay ready so you don't have to get ready. That's what I live by man. Just being ready for when my number is called. My teammates believed in me so I had to do what I had to do to help this team, this organization. If my number's called, I was ready. That's the motto, man."
In the nearly two years since his last NFL regular season game action, Nickerson was released three separate times and spent most of last season on the Eagles' practice squad.
Nickerson said the hardest part of the last two years not playing was staying mentally locked in. Sometimes, your mind can tend to drift off and Nickerson had to fight against that.
Originally drafted by the Jets in the sixth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, Nickerson has played in just 31 career games over six seasons for the Jets, Jaguars, Packers, Vikings, Dolphins and now Eagles. He didn't play in a single game in 2022 or 2024 but Nickerson kept working behind the scenes.
He wanted to be ready for his moment. And when it came with just over a minute remaining in a one score game in Tampa, Nickerson made the most of it.
It feels great, man. I was ready," he said. I was looking at the situation, down and distance. I was basically like, Let me warm up a little bit.' Did some high knees on the sideline, get everything going. Just so happened, they called the package that I was in and you know the rest."
Special plays
The Eagles started the scoring on Sunday afternoon when Cameron Latu busted through to block a punt that was scooped and scored by safety Sydney Brown.
Latu's teammates weren't surprised to see him finally get a block. He had been close before this season and has shown that ability in practice.
He's incredibly good," punter Braden Mann said. He's as strong as an ox and he's a really good player on special teams. The first time that we kind of knew who he was, we were doing our scout team punt return against our punt team and our entire punt team was like, He's really giving us problems. We need to use this against them.' Happy he got his opportunity and he's making the best of it."
This was the third consecutive opponent drive that resulted in a block after the Eagles ended the Rams game with back-to-back field goal blocks. The Eagles became the first team since at least 1978 to block three consecutive kicks or punts, according to Elias Sports.
And they're just the fourth NFL team since 2000 to produce a FG block returned for a TD and a punt block returned for a touchdown in the same season and they're the only team do it in two consecutive games.
The game on Sunday ended with a cool special teams play too when the Eagles wasted away the final 6 seconds in Tampa with a take safety. Nick Sirianni loves situational football and this one was played perfectly by Mann, who ran backwards for a 34-yard loss and a safety as time expired.
Mann explained that 6 seconds is about their cut-off to run it. There are a few different variations of that play and the Eagles ran the one they had up for this game.
I kind of expected it with 6 seconds left," Mann said. That's one we go over almost every week. It was good to have that and have all the guys protecting for me. That was exciting, I guess."
Won't back down
Quinyon Mitchell had a really impressive game in Tampa on Sunday and he wanted all the smoke. Even from All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs, who got in his face after Mitchell was jawing with Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield.
I don't really fear nobody," Mitchell said to NBC Sports Philadelphia's John Clark. He's a great player, Baker's a great player. But I don't fear nobody."
What was Mitchell's mentality as he chatted with Mayfield?
He's a competitor, I'm a competitor," Mitchell said. I'm not going to back down from nobody. It was all love. It was all in between the lines, in between the whistle. Nothing really personal. Just competing."
In the win, Mitchell mostly shadowed Buccaneers rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka and did a nice job on him. Mitchell was on Egbuka 22 times in the game and allowed just 2 catches for 6 yards on 6 targets. Mitchell had a career-high five pass breakups on Sunday.