Brandon Graham would be the first to admit he hadn’t really made an impact the first couple months of his 14th NFL season.
His reps were down, his production was down, and he made it clear all along he didn’t want to come back and play another year just to be a leader. He wanted to help the Eagles win.
And, wow -- Sunday, he sure did exactly that.
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Graham, who had half a sack, one tackle for loss and three quarterback hits to show for the first eight games of the season, showed up when the Eagles needed him the most.
“He’s such an important part of this football team,” Nick Sirianni said. “The player, the person, the leader, the captain. When he makes a play like he did today, I promise you everybody feeds off of that and everybody feels that because our guys are so excited when he makes a play.”
Trying desperately to protect a rickety 4th-quarter lead against the Cowboys, the Eagles turned late in the game to Graham, who made the most of some meaningful reps with a bunch of big plays down the stretch.
With the Cowboys trailing by five but with a 1st-and-10 on the Eagles’ 31 with under three minutes left, Graham sacked Dak Prescott for a seven-yard loss and on the very next play shared a sack with Jalen Carter for a four-yard loss, and two plays later the Cowboys went out on downs.
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Things got dicey in the next couple minutes, but the Eagles hung on for a pivotal 28-23 win over their biggest rival at the Linc, and Graham had a huge hand in it.
He was credited with 1 ½ sacks, two quarterback hits, a tackle for loss and two tackles in 18 high-leverage snaps. Not in the box score, but he also chased Dak Prescott on the Cowboys’ unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt earlier in the fourth quarter. If he hadn’t, maybe Prescott doesn’t step out of bounds just before the end zone.
It was just like old times. The Eagles beating the Cowboys and B.G. playing a big role in the win.
“You don't know when your play is going to come,” B.G. said after the Eagles held on and improved to 8-1 going into the bye. “That's what I stress to the guys all the time. Just make sure you make them count. …
“I'm gonna miss this when it's over, but I'm gonna enjoy it too while it's here. And just to be able to get on the board (was huge). We were just trying to get off the field at the end of the day. We know we had some third and fourth downs that we wish we could have had back, but to get out of the game with a win, that's all you really care about.
“I don't care who makes the play but just make it. I'm happy to be able to make some plays in that game to help us.”
This was as wild an Eagles-Cowboys game we’ve seen in years. The Eagles kept giving the Cowboys the ball back, the Cowboys kept driving deep into Eagles territory and the Eagles kept making plays to protect the lead.
In the second half, the Cowboys piled up 236 yards and 18 first downs but scored just six points.
“They're gonna make some plays and you can't get frustrated,” B.G. said. “You just gotta keep coming. And I think that's all we did. We just kept coming. Regardless of the penalties that came on that last drive, guys were like, ‘You know what? Let's just go. It don't matter. They ain't got in yet.’
“We are trusting each other to go out and just do our job and then in these types of games you’ve just got to do your job and trust each other.”
And there’s nobody this team trusts more than B.G.
When the Eagles return from the bye and face the Chiefs, Graham will play in his 188th game in an Eagles uniform, tying David Akers for the most in franchise history. And he'll do it against Andy Reid, who drafted him in the first round back in 2010.
“When you get to the later stages of your career, it’s about maintenance and playing with fundamentals and technique, and it’s about playing with great passion,” Sirianni said. “And nobody does that more than B.G.”
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