Brandon Graham Recalls Life-Changing Play vs. Tom Brady in Super Bowl LII
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PHILADELPHIA – There were 2 minutes and 16 seconds left in Super Bowl LII when Brandon Graham made a play that will live forever in Eagles history for two reasons.
First, it likely altered the outcome and was pivotal in the Eagles delivering Philadelphia its first Super Bowl championship.
Second, it came against Tom Brady.
Graham added a third reason, a more personal one when he sat at the podium inside the team’s auditorium at the NovaCare Complex on Thursday afternoon.
“It changed my life,” said the veteran defensive end. “Nobody can take that one away, going against Brady in the Super Bowl, somebody who you know that put daggers in people’s hearts and those drives, especially his last drives.
“If anything, I’m happy because it was another Michigan guy, something I can always go back to Michigan, and if I see Brady, we can always have a good conversation about that one.”
It may not be topic No. 1 on Brady’s list, but Graham is a noted trash-talker, so you know he won’t let Brady forget about it.
“I’m happy I was able to do that in my career, especially with how it went in the beginning, to be able to make a play like that at a time when we never had a championship and we finally brought us one,” he said. “Then it changed my trajectory on how people view me as a player, and it’s just gotten better ever since.”
Graham was labeled a bust for the first few years of his career after being drafted by the Eagles in the first round back in 2010.
That perception has changed in a big way.
His strip-sack was one of several big plays turned in by the Eagles in their 41-33 victory in Super Bowl LIVV on Feb. 4, 2018.
It came with the Eagles protecting a 38-33 lead and just before the two-minute warning.
Derek Barnett recovered the fumble and, four plays later, Jake Elliott knocked home a 46-yard field goal to give Philly an 8-point lead with 1:05 to go in the game.
Brady retired on Wednesday after a first-ballot Hall of Fame career, but he does have one Super Bowl win over the Eagles, which came during the 2004 season when he beat Donovan McNabb and Philly, 24-21.
However, Graham isn’t shedding any tears for the now-retired GOAT after hearing the QB’s retirement speech on Wednesday.
“He definitely has opportunity afterward with that big (broadcasting) deal he got,” laughed Graham, “so I don’t feel sorry for him.”
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
