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Keisean Nixon goes from 0 to 60 like a fine Italian sports car.
Nixon, the Green Bay Packers’ game-changing kick returner and defensive back, didn’t practice all week due to a groin injury. When he couldn’t practice on Friday, the fear is he wouldn’t be available for Sunday’s showdown against the Minnesota Vikings.
“On Friday, he wrote us off like, ‘If you can’t run by Friday, probably won’t happen,’” Nixon said.
So, he laid around on Friday and Saturday.
It turns out some rest and relaxation is the equivalent of high-octane fuel. His 105-yard kickoff return for a touchdown was one of the huge plays of Green Bay’s 41-17 victory.
“I texted the coaches this morning like, ‘I feel like a Ferrari.’ He’s like, ‘Huh?’ I said, ‘I feel like a Ferrari.’”
So, Nixon went through a pregame workout and proclaimed himself good to go.
“It was like, ‘If you can go, you can go,’” Nixon said. “Woke up this morning, texted, ‘I feel like a Ferrari’ and I played in the game. Felt like a Ferrari running the ball.”
Looked like one, too. Trailing 3-0 early in the first quarter, Nixon took Greg Joseph’s kickoff from 5 yards deep in the end zone, shot through a huge hole, stiff-armed Joseph to the turf and was gone. The 105-yard touchdown was the third-longest in Packers history. It changed the game and helped save the season.
The return was blocked with textbook precision. “Guys blocked their ass off,” was Nixon’s assessment. Patrick Taylor had the last block; Dallin Leavitt looked for someone to block but couldn’t find anyone.
“The kicker,” is all Nixon saw. “Guys had great blocks for me. They opened it up. I feel like it was open sea. I just ran through it. I just knew I had one person to beat and, once I passed the kicker, it was party time.”
From catching the ball to crossing the goal line, it took Nixon 13 seconds to party with the fans with a triumphant Lambeau Leap. With Joseph ready to kick, stadium public-address announcer Bill Jartz told the crowd that Nixon was back deep. The fans cheered, then rose as one as Nixon took off for the end zone.
It was the third-longest kickoff return in Packers history, with Randall Cobb’s 108-yarder vs. the Saints in his first career game being the longest and most-recent touchdown. Including his 93-yarder last week, Nixon has five kickoff returns of 50-plus yards this season. No other player has more than two.
“Keisean, what can you say?” said quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who greeted Nixon out of the tunnel with a pregame head-butt.
The game featured the NFL’s top kickoff returners by average, with Nixon No. 1 and Minnesota’s Kene Nwangwu No. 2 but boasting the 4.32 speed in the 40 and the three touchdowns in two seasons.
With a 105-yard touchdown added to his dizzying display of long returns, Nixon lifted his league-leading average to 30.0 yards per return. That’s 3.7 yards better than the second-ranked Nwangwu.
“They knew they wasn’t going to keep me out of this game, know what I’m saying?” Nixon said. “They just rest me. Word on the street is they had the best returner, so hopefully we settled that today.”
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