For Brandon Graham, Trash Talk May Replace Roar of Crowd
If my next Rorschach test features a drawing of Brandon Graham, the first thought popping into my head is energy.
At 32 and the longest-tenured Eagles player Graham will run circles around the rookies whenever the all-clear is sounded and players can assemble at the NovaCare Complex.
No one feeds off the sights and sounds of 70,000 screaming fans like B.G, but there is a very good chance that NFL teams will have to play a game defined by emotion in a somewhat sterile environment during the 2020 season.
Few fans or even no fans might be the new normal in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and Graham is already envisioning other ways to generate his trademark energy, taking what he does in practice into a space where individuals can be heard above the roar of a crowd.
“Tash talk” is Graham’s answer.
“The only thing we’re gonna do now is hear everybody on the sideline and that trash talk that is gonna be happening,” the veteran joked during a Zoom call with reporters.
Graham fought through the trash talk in his own home - his daughter interrupting to tell him mommy needed something - to visualize the upcoming season.
In theory, communication will be easier than ever for offenses around the league and home-field advantages will be somewhat neutralized. Lincoln Financial Field is regarded as one of the more difficult places to play in the NFL and the opposing teams heading in will have at least one hurdle removed.
“We are gonna try to make the best of it,” said Graham. “I don’t know all the plans but I know in the beginning for sure there are no fans and you know I just think you’re gonna hear a lot of the stuff you don’t normally hear.”
Graham likened it to a scrimmage in where the fans are replaced by the banter going back-and-forth between adversaries.
“You know it’s like a scrimmage that you practice in against these boys during the week so that’s what it’s gonna sound like, a bunch of trash-talking,” said Graham. “You know people excited when they score touchdowns and big hits and you know it’s gonna be a little different but we gonna adjust and make it happen.”
Graham is certainly going to adjust and make it happen.
It’s to be determined with everyone else.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
