Graham hopes Eagles don't get hosed by bogus roughing call

Watching two highly questionable and costly roughing the passer penalties in the NFL this weekend, Eagles veteran defensive end Brandon Graham had one prevailing thought.

“I’d hate for us to lose a game off of something like that,” Graham said.

On Sunday, Falcons lineman Grady Jarrett was penalized for his hit on Tom Brady because the referees said he “unnecessarily” threw him to the ground. On Monday night, Chiefs lineman Chris Jones was penalized because the refs said he landed on Derek Carr with his full body weight.

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Tough sell on both of those.

“It ain’t going to change my mindset, but it is something that’s gotta be done,” Graham said. “Because we work too hard for them sacks as it is and it’s already hard enough to get them. I feel like … I don’t know if I should say this but I’m gonna say it. They pay the quarterbacks a lot. And so whatever we break, they can get it fixed. Whatever the money is. Because they’re getting paid a whole lot.

“Those two was bad calls. I know we’re trying to protect the quarterback … I just felt like those two was nothing serious on what we’ve seen before. I don’t think nobody was really trying to hurt nobody.”

Graham, 34, was just one of many defensive players from around the league who expressed disbelief watching those two flags fly in. And he wasn’t the only Eagles player to feel the same way.

Graham, who knows something about sacking Brady, said that Brady is bigger than you might expect. And because of his size, sometimes you need to “swing him around” to get him down.

And the Jones play? Graham pointed out that it looked like Jones used his forearm to brace his fall after jarring the ball loose. “Come on, are you serious,” Graham said.

This season in the NFL, there have been 24 flags for roughing the passer through five games. After 154 of those calls league-wide last year, the league is actually on pace for significantly fewer this season. And the Eagles are one of 11 teams in the NFL that haven’t been called for one.

But the biggest fear is that one will come at a crucial moment in a game.

“I think they’re going to get it right,” Graham said. “I’m just speaking on what happened this past week and I think the league is definitely going to get it right. But I just know it’s already too hard for us to get sacks so don’t make us out there timid when we get close to the quarterback.

“I’m gonna just stand him up and hold him like this, ‘Blow the whistle!’ That’s what we getting to, but I think they’re going to get it right.”

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