GLENDALE, Ariz. — As Jalen Hurts shuffled back and forth from his locker stall to his suitcase, which rested on the floor of the visitors locker room in State Farm Stadium, he couldn’t help himself.
“Dicker … the .. Kicker,” said Hurts, who wasn’t alone.
Who would have thought that when Cameron Dicker’s seventh-grade science teacher Mr. Gonzalez — “Mr. G,” Dicker called him — coined the nickname many years ago, it would end up as a victorious battle cry in the locker room of the last undefeated team in the NFL.
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But with Jake Elliott out this week thanks to an ankle injury, the Eagles called upon an undrafted rookie from the University of Texas and Dicker did his part. Not only did Dicker hit a 42-yarder in the third quarter, he nailed a 23-yard game-winner with just 1:45 remaining in the Eagles’ 20-17 win over the Cardinals. The Eagles moved to 5-0 on the season.
Turns out, Dicker the Kicker is pretty clutch.
“Credit to him,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “He made the kick in a huge moment.”
Dicker’s week started with a phone call at around 8 a.m. on Monday morning. The Eagles wanted him in Philly for a tryout, so Dicker flew out from his home in Austin, Texas, for the chance of a lifetime. Dicker was in camp with the Rams and spent a few days with the Ravens, but had been watching the first four weeks of the NFL slate from his couch.
NFL
Dicker and fellow kicker Jake Verity worked out for the Eagles on Monday and Dicker performed well enough for the Birds to sign him to the practice squad. After Elliott was ruled out on Friday, the Eagles elevated Dicker for his NFL debut.
The Cardinals had a similar situation this week. Their kicker Matt Prater was out and they signed Matt Ammendola, who missed a 43-yarder that would have tied the game late in the fourth quarter.
In a battle of backup kickers, Dicker was victorious.
“He came up big in a moment where we need a kick to go up,” Brandon Graham said. “You see their kicker, they had a backup kicker too and it could go the other way. It could have went the other way for us too.”
Just before Dicker’s 23-yard game-winner, the Cardinals were forced to use a timeout because of an injury. So Dicker was forced to wait and wait and wait. He walked all the way from one side of the field to the other, got in a couple kicks at the net and then walked all the way back.
It was the kind of situation where you’d think the pressure was mounting on a rookie kicker in a huge situation with the game — and possibly his career — on the line. But Dicker didn’t feel any pressure.
“No. Not at all,” Dicker said. “It was easy. Same thing as going out there on a normal kick. Just run out and go make it.”
Ho hum.
Dicker seems to have ice water in his veins and that’s what you want out of any NFL kicker. The Eagles seem to have that in their Pro Bowler Elliott, who could very well return this coming Sunday night against the Cowboys.
While his showing on Sunday might get him some new opportunities, Dicker might soon be out of a job as Elliott returns. And Dicker the Kicker will just be a fun chapter in the story of the 2022 Eagles.
“I just gotta roll with it, “Dicker said of his nickname. “I get called a lot. Dicker the Kicker is one of the good ones.”
It definitely was on Sunday.
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