NEW ORLEANS (AP) — After making it through his first week back at practice from a torn triceps, Brandon Graham is planning on playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday for the Philadelphia Eagles.
“I'm feeling good,” Graham said Monday at the NFL's opening night. "I’m excited to be able to play in this game. Just enjoying the moment.”
Graham later clarified that he needs to make it through this week of practice without any setbacks before a final decision is made but the Eagles' defensive hero from Super Bowl 52 appears ready for an improbable comeback.
The 36-year-old Graham was thought to be done for the season after he tore his triceps in a Nov. 24 game against the Los Angeles Rams. Graham was placed on injured reserve two days later, seemingly ending what he had called the final season of his career.
“When I got hurt, I saw it as a possibility,” he said. “I talked to people and they said it was a possibility. I rehabbed as hard as I could ... So when the time came they would give me the chance.”
That chance could come Sunday against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Christian Sports Spectrum reports: Graham expressed his gratitude to the Lord for being healthy enough to have a chance to play Sunday.
“For Him to give me this opportunity on the biggest stage, and then to feel good on something where people thought that I was done — even myself at one point, until somebody was like, ‘You could do it if you wanted to,'” Graham told the media. “I just started grinding, I started working, making sure I had everything else, outside of what was hurt, strong. I started trusting in my team and the people I was working with and we went for it. We’re still going right now. I’m just excited to be up here and have this opportunity.”
Not only a leader and captain on the field, Graham has long been a spiritual leader for the Eagles as well. Ted Winsley, the team’s chaplain, said on the Sports Spectrum Podcast this week that he met “BG” in the team’s Bible study during his rookie year.
Graham was on the losing side of the Super Bowl two years ago against Kansas City when he made little impact during his 18 defensive snaps on a slick field that made rushing the passer difficult for everyone.
The situation was very different five years earlier against New England when Graham's strip-sack against Tom Brady late in the fourth quarter thwarted a comeback attempt by the Patriots and helped deliver Philadelphia its first Super Bowl title.
That was the crowning moment in a 15-year career in which Graham set an Eagles record with 215 games played in the regular season and playoffs and his 82 total sacks rank third for the franchise.
Graham is one of two position players and four players overall left from the Eagles’ Super Bowl championship team in the 2017 season.
Graham's return would provide an emotional boost but he hopes to deliver more than that. He had 3 1/2 sacks in his 11 games before getting hurt.
“If they didn’t feel like I could bring something, they wouldn’t waste their time activating me," he said.
___