Tampa Bay Buccaneers guard Carl Nicks has returned to practice following an MRSA staph infection.

Nicks was one of two Buccaneers players to pick up the infection during training camp last month, with kicker Lawrence Tynes being placed on the non-football injured reserve list with the ailment.

However, Nicks was able to return to what was described as "very limited" training this afternoon and hopes to be fit enough to play in Sunday's match against the New Orleans Saints.

"It's frustrating, but at the same time you can't mess around with MRSA, so I'm going to do exactly what they tell me to do, what the doctors tell me and the coaches tell me. I know they have my best interest at heart, so I'm going to follow all their directions," Nicks told reporters.

"At first you really can't do anything, literally, but I've been running recently – jogging, sprinting, doing offensive line work. I'm just trying to get back into football shape.

"You can run sprints until you're blue in the face, but you're not going to get into football shape with anything except football.I'm going to do everything in my power to play [Sunday]."

The Buccaneers lost their opening game of the season as a last-gasp field goal gave the New York Jets an 18-17 win.