First-Year Eagles Defender Unfamiliar With Hometown Fans, But His Dad Isn't

Emmanuel Uche showed up in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX and took to the Bourbon Street wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey. That’s when he learned about Eagles fans, who turned out in droves in the French Quarter in the early days of February to watch the Eagles take on the Chiefs, who had on their team Emmanuel’s son, Josh.

Josh Uche painted a Michelangelo-like masterpiece in recalling the story.

“Mind you, my dad is a Nigerian immigrant, still heavy accent, right?” said Uche, about to play his first game as an Eagle on Thursday night against the Cowboys. “He’s got this Chiefs jersey on and walking the streets of Bourbon Street – I’m trying to paint the picture for you guys. And you got guys from Philly just giving him the business.”

The business remained open through the game inside the Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9, and didn’t close for several hours, a party spilling into the streets after the Eagles blowout of the Chiefs, 40-22.

“He’s a no-nonsense guy, so he comes up to me and he says, I got into it with these Philly guys and one of them was standing up in front of me the whole game, I couldn’t see,” said Uche, who said his dad went on and on about Eagles fans. “I was like, oh (bleep), maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to have my dad come out. But now we’re on the right side and we have his intensity, his passion and his high energy now on the right side.”

Emmanuel and other Uche family members have exchanged their Chiefs jerseys for Eagles jerseys and will be in attendance on Thursday. How much they will see of Johs remains to be seen, since he is a backup to starters Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt.

“I’m just being ready in all phases for whatever’s asked of me to get the job,” he said.

Uche Doesn't Know ABout Eagles-Cowboys Rivalry...Yet