From One Champ to Another
He’s Not Only Been One of the Eagles’ Top Players for Twelve Years.
He’s One of the Best of All-Time.
Rocky Balboa was a two-time World Champion. So is Brandon Graham.
Just hours before Brandon Graham announced from a Lombardi-Trophy enclosed podium at the Novacare Complex that Super Bowl LIX was his last game ever — he walked to the Rocky Statue — and placed a jersey at Rocky’s feet and slung a pair of cleats over his outstretched, victorious arms.
Graham leaves the Eagles as one of the best defensive ends in team history and one of its most important.
With just over two minutes left in Super Bowl LVII — the Eagles were not just in the throws of a close Super Bowl — they were in the midst of one of the most historic Super Bowls ever in offensive yardage. As the Eagles’ defense took the field up 38–33, quarterback Nick Foles yelled at Brandon Graham and the other Eagle defenders, “Strip him.”
Two plays later, Brandon Graham beat his blocker to the inside and reached out with just enough of that Michigan Wolverine paw to knock the football out of Tom Brady’s hand and into the waiting arms of Derek Barnett. It would become the defining moment of the Eagles’ first Super Bowl win, and one that would be one of the few Eagles stops of the Patriots offense all day.
If you play the Philadelphia Eagles, you will probably hear some talk. And chances are, that talk is coming from Eagles Defensive lineman Brandon Graham.
During the 2022–2023 Eagles Super Bowl run, Eagles Defensive End Fletcher Cox ever apologized to opposing players for the constant barrage of trash talk coming from the Graham. In the NFC Championship Game against the 49ers, San Francisco Tight End George Kittle asked Graham in the end zone, “Are you going to yell at me all day?”
When the Eagles drafted Brandon Graham out of Michigan with the 147th pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, no one yet knew how important Graham would be to Philadelphia. But like many great Eagles picks over the last twenty-five years, Graham was one of the best defensive selections in Eagles history.
Earlier this season, an emotional Brandon Graham told the media outside of his locker that he had torn his tricep and that he was done for the season. Later in the year, in Baltimore, someone was talking on the Eagles sideline. After some thought, his career was over — Brandon Graham made a return to the Eagles in the Super Bowl LIX victory.
It turns out you cannot silence Brandon Graham after all.
PHOTO: —
Discover more from Philadelphia Sports Nation
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Categorized:Eagles Unique Columns