PHILADELPHIA -- Had Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones made a fingertip catch and somehow gotten both feet in bounds, the outcome of Saturday's 15-10 Eagles victory in the NFC Divisional Playoffs might have been different, but an argument can be made that Brandon Graham's play on that final possession loomed just as large.
Graham burst through the line of scrimmage and met Falcons' running back Tevin Coleman in the backfield for a five-yard loss on 1st down and 10 from the Falcons' 38-yard line with 4:38 remaining in regulation. Four plays later, on 1st and 10 from the Eagles' 38, Devonta Freeman had nothing but green pastures in front of him after taking a Matt Ryan handoff off tackle, but Graham tripped him up behind the line of scrimmage.
Yes, Ryan and the Falcons picked up four first downs on their final possession, but Graham's two plays plugged the dam and were very nearly enough to get off the field long before Jones came just short of scoring a go-ahead touchdown with 1:05 remaining.
It isn't a stretch to say that the two play stretch was the most impactful of Graham's career.
"Oh, it was a tremendous play," Eagles head coach Doug Pederson said of Graham's stuff of Freeman. "He had a couple tackle for losses tonight. He did a great job putting pressure on. He's so quick off the ball and times the snap count up. And that play you're referring to there in the fourth quarter was huge. It was kind of a cut-back run and he dove and made the tackle.
"That could have gone a long way. He's a guy we've counted on all season long, and again, he stepped up and had a nice game."
Graham finished Saturday's contest with two tackles, one tackle for loss and two quarterback hits. But, for much of the second half of Saturday's night's game, Graham and defensive tackle Fletcher Cox were nearly unblockable.
"We knew we gave up some plays early on in the fist half," Graham said afterwards. "We just said 'We have to go out there and just play our game. Everything is calm now. We can go out there and we can focus. They gave us their best shot, so let's go out there and prove it. We can go win this game.'"
Leading up to Saturday's game, the Eagles -- particularly defensive players -- seemed to hone in on the outside criticism and use it as motivation after being installed as underdogs.
After standing tall and sealing the victory by slamming the door shut on the Falcons' final drive, Graham, Cox, and safety Malcolm Jenkins have their sights set on loftier goals.
"We know defense wins championships," Jenkins said. "You say it all the time. You hear it. It's cliche, but it's true. Especially where we are now at home. We knew we needed to stop the run and that team does a great job with those two running backs. For the most part, we did a good job with that.
"We knew Julio was going to rack up some yards and was going to get some catches, but we needed to keep him in front of us. We did that. At the end of the day, when the game was on the line, we got the one stop that we added to win the game."
Matt Lombardo may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoPHL.