Brandon Graham to Giants After Eagles' Loss: Don't Put Yourself in That Position

Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham chided the New York Giants for having to rely on other teams to secure a playoff spot while defending his club's performance against the Washington Football Team on Sunday night.

Speaking on the 94WIP Morning Show with Angelo Cataldi, Graham had a simple message for the Giants after the Eagles benched starting quarterback Jalen Hurts for Nate Sudfeld with the game on the line. 

"Don't put yourself in that position," Graham said. 

The Eagles lost 20-14 to the WFT, securing the NFC East title for Washington (7-9). A six-win Giants team would've won the division had Washington lost Sunday. Instead, Washington is headed for a postseason matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the lone playoff representative of its division.

Since they were already eliminated from playoff contention, the Eagles decided to bench starting quarterback Jalen Hurts to get backup Nate Sudfeld some playing time in the fourth quarter, although Sudfeld struggled upon entering the game.

Here's how Graham described the decision: 

"I was hype for Nate. Because let me tell you, Nate ain't played since 2017. I haven't seen him out there. It's been a minute seen I since Nate [in a game] and I knew Nate was supposed to go out there because we talked before the game and he was excited to get his opportunity. When Coach put him out there, I really didn't think anything of it.

"If this game didn't really mean anything to anybody, we wouldn't be talking about this, I feel. Because really, you want to see what's on your roster. People were all out, everybody is out, Miles [Sanders], everybody that's out. You want to kind of see the depth that you have. And I feel like people kind of making a big deal out of something Coach was going to do anyway because he wanted to see his guys and see what he had moving forward for next year. I don't know. I just feel like when the Giants start talking all that stuff, people started getting all mad because, 'They all disrespecting the game and all that.' But it's really, that was the plans in the beginning."

Eagles head coach Doug Pederson told reporters after the loss that he was "coaching to win" and felt Sudfeld deserved snaps. 

That might not comfort Giants players who missed out on the postseason, but Graham believes the Giants should blame themselves instead.