It's no secret the Eagles defense played a big part in Sunday's win over the 49ers. They tallied 15 quarterback hits, one of which came from Brandon Graham who broke up a passing play late in the fourth quarter.
Graham has a knack for causing problems when he gets to the quarterback, and his approach was heavily influenced by another Eagles great: Brian Dawkins.
On Wednesday morning, Angelo Cataldi asked Graham if his mindset is sack or strip:
"Well, in the beginning it used to be sack. Now, I try to strip more," said Graham.
"That kind of started back in 2016 really. That's something I try to think about all the time. Brian Dawkins, when he was here, he used to tell me 'go for that ball, go for that ball'. We used to watch clips of him going for that ball and that stayed with me. I'm like yeah, you right that turns the game around.
Getting a sack, that's cool, but they still have the ball and we need to flip the field. My mindset is strip the ball."
Dawkins joined the Eagles' scouting department in 2016 and attended practices and unofficially coached for two years during training camp. Of course, Graham made one of the biggest plays in Eagles history by strip-sacking Tom Brady in the Super Bowl.
Cataldi inferred that Dawkins had a say in that famous play and had to ask: without the advice, would Graham have just sacked Brady instead and the Eagles might have lost?
"It might have, it might have not!" Graham joked. "It's in the record books now. I'm happy I did strip it. I'm also happy for the counsel I did get from Dawkins when he was here."
