Brandon Graham set the Eagles’ shutout tone Sunday; NFL’s injury epidemic changes the playoff picture
Brandon Graham's first sack of Kenny Pickett might not have mattered on paper, but it had a huge impact. Also, the NFL lost some huge stars to injury Sunday.
Cooper DeJean committed two penalties on the same play in the first quarter Sunday. First, he held Tyler Lockett, then he pushed him, which drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. However, that was not the most important thing that happened on the play.
In the backfield, 37-year-old unretired defensive end Brandon Graham, playing his second career game at defensive tackle due to depth issues, sacked Raiders quarterback Kenny Pickett. It was about 25 degrees, it felt about 25-below, and the turf was as cold and as hard as Graham’s heart when it comes to quarterbacks.
The penalties dulled the impact of the sack, but that sack changed the game.
To that point, Pickett was 4-for-5 for 16 yards, plus an 8-yard scramble. The Raiders had gained 20 yards.
They gained just 55 more yards all game as the Eagles secured their first shutout since Dec. 30, 2018. Graham was the only current Eagles defender to play in that game; the next afternoon, Pickett, a sophomore at Pitt, lost to Stanford in the Sun Bowl.
After the Graham sack, Pickett looked like he wished he was back in El Paso. Pickett went 11-for-20 for 48 yards, with an interception, minus-1 rushing yard, and three more sacks. Every drop back, he’d glance at the coverage and then look for Graham & Co.
“It was big, man,” Graham said. “Whenever we can hit the quarterback like that ... you just abort the plan that you had.”
Moro Ojomo sacked Pickett on the very next play.
Graham later collected another sack on a day when he became the oldest Eagle in history to record a sack. They were his first and second since he returned to the field six games ago, when the Birds found themselves shorthanded at end. Now, in the absence of Jalen Carter, Graham, at 265 pounds, is playing tackle, to great effect.
He was good at the Chargers last week, but he was great Sunday. It was his first game with at least two sacks since Jan. 1, 2023, against the Saints, which was Game 16 of the 2022 season.
DeJean was grateful that, thanks to Graham laying wood while he was fouling Lockett, nothing much came of his penalty.
“It had this, like, carryover effect,” DeJean said. “It gets into the mind of a quarterback, and we were just able to come after him.”
Graham didn’t win every play. In fact, not only did Graham not see Zack Baun intercept Pickett’s pass early in the third quarter, he was rendered completely irrelevant.
“Oh, my goodness,” Graham said after the game, shaking his head and smiling. “Oh, my goodness.”
Graham had left the middle for one play and lined up on the left edge. There, he told tight end Michael Mayer, “You better not chip me!”
Mayer chipped him as right tackle DJ Glaze blocked him.
Graham wound up on his back.
He was still there when Mayer, who’d raced across the field, tackled Baun.
“I didn’t think he was going to chip me,” Graham said with a shrug. “He got me. But trust me, it looked worse than it felt.”
Shutout football with two sacks at the age of 37 can be a powerful anesthetic.
Marcus Hayes alerts
Injury earthquakes
Micah Parsons is the Packers’ best defensive player. He entered Sunday’s game with 12½ sacks and a league-high 60 QB pressures, a brilliant return on the Packers’ investment. He cost the Pack two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark in a blockbuster trade with Dallas, then signed a four-year, $188 million contract extension.
Then, Sunday. Parsons left the game with a knee injury in the third quarter just before the Broncos took the lead for good in their 34-26 win. Reports indicate that he has a torn ACL.
The loss dropped the Packers to 9-4-1, a half-game in the NFC North standings behind the 10-4 Bears — the team they visit Saturday night — but Green Bay leads the 9-5 Eagles, in case that matters. Parsons’ absence might matter more than anything. It would be like the Browns losing Myles Garrett, or maybe even like the Chiefs losing Patrick Mahomes.
On that point ...
Mahomes left the Chiefs’ loss Sunday with a torn ACL. The Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention.
So, suddenly, the best player on an elite NFC team is gone, and, while the return from an ACL injury can be as short at eight months, Parsons, a dynamic athlete who relies on speed, probably won’t be the same until 2027.
Also, suddenly, the best player in the NFL over the last eight seasons on the best team in the NFL over the last eight seasons is gone, and, as perhaps the most effective mobile quarterback in history, Mahomes probably won’t be the same until 2027, either. Neither will the Chiefs.
Finally, star wideout Davante Adams left the Rams’ comeback win against the visiting Lions when he aggravated a hamstring injury. Adams has 14 touchdown receptions, which leads the league by six. He’s seventh on the all-time TD catches list with 117, and he’s the active leader by 11. The Rams sit atop the NFC at 11-3, which might be enough to secure the No. 1 seed, but the impact of a diminished Adams could resonate in the playoffs.
Extra points
The Cowboys’ home loss to the Vikings left them at 6-7-1 and essentially ended their hopes for a playoff berth. The Cowboys would have to win the NFC East, and to do that they’d have to go 3-0 and have the Eagles go 0-3. ... Josh Allen led the Bills to five touchdowns and a third big comeback win, this time at New England, which kept the Patriots from clinching the AFC East. ... Unretired grandfather Philip Rivers, signed by Indianapolis to replace injured Daniel Jones, threw a touchdown pass and an interception but the Colts (8-6) lost their fourth in a row when Seahawks kicker Jason Myers kicked his franchise-record sixth field goal, a 56-yarder in the final minute. Seattle, with quarterback Sam Darnold, is 11-3. ... Trevor Lawrence led the Jaguars (10-4) to a fifth straight win with a career-high five TD passes, ran for another, and has his team on top of the AFC South.
The Eagles have a solid stash of draft picks (8) and, for a team just one season removed from winning the Super Bowl, a lot of positions that need to be addressed. Several elite members of the offensive line could be on the verge of retirement, while the wide receiver corps appears destined to lose a dynamic member. After bolstering the defense in the early rounds of the draft in recent years, will general manager Howie Roseman pivot this spring? The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Devin Jackson combine their reporting and analysis to forecast how the Eagles might attack the 2026 NFL Draft, which gets underway Thursday in Pittsburgh. Listen here.
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