Eagles DE Brandon Graham (11.22.20)

Eagles DE Brandon Graham:

On stopping the run early and then wearing down later in the game:

“They just made a play. When I think about the big one (RB Nick) Chubb, we just missed a tackle. He made a heck of a play. We knew both of those backs were really good and I felt like we were coming, but we were missing some tackles there and they were getting leaky and we did not do enough to get off the field.”

On whether this season feels like a previous season in his career:

“You know what, honestly, every year is different. I know what it feels like at our worst sometimes. I do not feel this is the worst, worst, because obviously, with our record as bad as it is, we still have a game up. It is on us. This is the most “on us” that I have been a part of, where we have to fix it. We have six games to do it. I do know that we have some fighters in here. We want to get this thing right. We talk about winners win and losers just figure out how to lose. We are not doing that. We are winners here. We always hold that high standard with what we have to get accomplished. We do not want to make excuses. We just did not get it done today. It is just tough, because now, what I love the most is that during tough times, you really see what your team is about. This is the toughest time, because when people expect you to come out and win certain games and you do not do it, and we expect the same thing and we do not do it, you really start to see what you need to see with your team. I do not see people wavering. I am not worried about that, but we do need to clean up some of the little things, little mistakes, that we make. Like you say, we have a perfect game going on defense and then one little, big play—we have got to eliminate those. How we come to work each and every week, it matters. And at this point right now, you know, we are at the lowest of lows. I am sure everybody is going crazy, because we lost and keep losing, but I know that we are figuring this out. We are going to hit this thing and we are going to hit it running once we get it.”

On the same mistakes popping up, even after the leadership group identified the problems to be fixed this week:

“I mean, it is never perfect, but what we do say is that there is certain stuff we go over in practice and we cannot make those mistakes in the game. It is not like we have not seen some of the stuff. And yes, you might get one or two different things you might not see, but that is why you adjust. I think we adjusted well at halftime. We see how they are hitting us and sometimes—they get paid just like we do and they make a play. But it is how you bounce back from those plays and how you bow down, bow up, buckle up and get ready to change some things. I think that we have got some fighters in here. It might not be as clean as we want it to be, but I love the fight and what we have got going on the defensive side of the ball. I love how we are talking to each other. We just have to continue to keep putting the offense in better positions, because it is a field position game and you have to make sure you stop the run, No. 1, and play with good field position.”

On his confidence in Eagles QB Carson Wentz:

“I am confident in whatever Coach (Doug Pederson) wants to do and whatever they figure out on the offensive side. That has nothing to do with us other than we have to keep on keeping it tight on defense. I know that coach will make the right choice, regardless about what happens. I know it means something to (QB) Carson (Wentz). I know it means something to a lot of guys. Whatever it takes to get a dub, we are going to do. Whatever Coach leans on doing, we are going to support him and we are going to support our teammates, regardless of what happens.”

# # #