Graham just one sack away from making history originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Brandon Graham needs one sack to make some history.
And he knows it.
He’s just trying not to make it a bigger deal than it is.
“We made it look easy these last couple weeks but, let me tell you, even this last game I got a half (sack). That was even hard,” Graham said. “Trust me. I would love to break double digits. I feel like it’s in my cards this year if I do it right.”
Graham, 34, is the longest tenured pro athlete in Philadelphia and is in Year 13 with the Eagles.
But he’s never hit double digits in sacks. He had 9 1/2 in 2017 and he had just 8 in his Pro Bowl season in 2020. But with two games left to play this season, Graham is sitting at 9, just 1 away from the milestone. He’s done int this year without starting a single game, coming off the bench as a part of the Eagles’ second wave of pass rushers.
“I’m trying to do it at Year 13. I’m loving it,” Graham said. “I’m loving the position our team is in. I’m just going to go out there and play my game. If a sack comes, two sacks, maybe three, I’m going to be happy regardless.”
If Graham is able to add one more sack, he would join teammates Haason Reddick (14), Josh Sweat (11) and Javon Hargrave (10) in the double digit club this season.
The Eagles would be the first team in NFL history to have four different players with 10+ sacks. That would make the milestone even sweeter.
“That would mean a lot because, man, we’re going down in history for that,” Graham said. “But like I said, it ain’t no pressure. I’m just out here having fun. I’m trying to enjoy the day because, boy, next thing you know it’ll be season over. Hopefully we got that ring and we’ll be talking real good. I’m just trying to enjoy the moment and hopefully that moment come so I can do my dance.”
Graham clarified that the dance he has in mind was actually Robert Quinn’s from last season. Quinn broke Richard Dent’s Bears franchise record last season when he picked up sack No. 18 against the Giants.
Graham is in fourth place all-time on the Eagles’ sack list with 68. He’s behind just Reggie White (124), Trent Cole (85 1/2) and Clyde Simmons (76) and just ahead of Fletcher Cox (64).
There’s a chance that Graham’s next sack could set another record. The Eagles enter Week 17 with 61 sacks as a team this season, just one behind the franchise record of 62 set back in 1989, when Graham was just 1 year old.
That team had three players with 10+ sacks: Simmons (15 1/2), White (11) and Jerome Brown (10 1/2).
“That would mean a lot too,” Graham said. “Because we heard about that record for so long in this organization. So to be able to be two sacks away, don’t think about it, y’all, just be us. Go be us.”
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