December 14, 2025
Eric Hartline/Imagn Images
Brandon Graham and the Eagles' defense were all over Kenny Pickett and the Raiders on Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Brandon Graham – the 37-year-old Brandon Graham – is moving quicker.
Part of it's from finally getting up to NFL speed again. The other is out of necessity.
Graham rotated into the interior of the Eagles' defensive line while regular starter Jalen Carter is sidelined from having undergone a procedure on both of his shoulders.
It isn't exactly what Graham or the Eagles had imagined when the veteran pass rusher came out of retirement in late October, intending to aid the team on an at-the-time banged-up edge. But it was a call he was willing to answer, and just as the rust had fully shaken off.
Graham powered his way to two of the Eagles' four sacks of quarterback Kenny Pickett in Sunday's 31-0 shutout of the Raiders at Lincoln Financial Field.
They were his first two sacks of the season – six games into Year 16 – with both from him having rushed from the inside, and with both contributing to a dominant defensive effort that saw an abysmal Raiders offense gain a net of only 75 yards.
Graham was moving quicker – everyone along the Eagles' defensive line was, really – and the Raiders couldn't keep up.
"It gets on you quicker. You gotta make your move faster," Graham, a career edge rusher until about two weeks ago, said from the locker room postgame of pass rushing from the inside. "But it's something that I'm used to. I'm thankful to be able to come in and help whenever I can. I mean, can't wait to see JC [Jalen Carter] when he gets back, because him and [Jordan Davis] together, man, you see how Jordan's playing, you see how BY [Byron Young] is playing, the D line, everybody's contributing."
Including the 37-year-old that the Eagles originally thought would be coming back in to put pressure on opposing offenses from the outside one last time.
But hey, there's a first time for everything.
5️⃣5️⃣ with his SECOND sack on the day pic.twitter.com/jMGafRuw63
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) December 14, 2025
Graham moved with speed and power in the trenches on Sunday, often matching up against Raiders guard Caleb Rogers in the trenches.
For his first sack, on a 3rd and 8 late into the first quarter, Graham sent Rogers straight back into a collapsing pocket, then shed the block and wrapped up Pickett as he tried to scramble away from trouble. A declined hold and a compounding unnecessary roughness penalty to Cooper DeJean in the defensive backfield negated the forced fourth down and yardage lost, but Moro Ojomo's own sack on Pickett a play later helped to end the Las Vegas drive on a turnover on downs not long after anyway.
In the second quarter, Graham did it again. On a 3rd and 6 back in Las Vegas territory, Pickett took the snap from the gun, Graham bulldozed Rogers straight back, and the Raiders QB had nowhere to go.
Graham got one of Pickett's ankles while he fell to the ground, and had the strength to pull him down with that alone, forcing the Raiders to punt. The Eagles' offense flipped that ensuing possession into a touchdown to go up 17-0 before the half.
Zack Baun made his interception on Pickett's intended throw to tight end Brock Bowers coming back from the intermission, and the Eagles were pretty much in cruise control from there. The only thing was that Graham got chip blocked badly by the Raiders' opposite tight end Michael Mayer, but afterward, it was a moment that was easy to laugh off.
"He got me," Graham said with that big signature grin. "But it looked worse than it felt."
On a day when Graham, and the team on the whole, otherwise looked great in a spot where they really needed to be.
The Eagles' legend was moving quicker, out of necessity, sure, but from fully working the rust off, too.
Maybe at just the right time, even if it's not in the way he or the Eagles originally drew it up.
"Feel like my training camp has been over with now," Graham said. "I'm just trying to contribute, if it's on the field or off the field, whatever it is."
"We having some fun," he added with his smile.
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