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Brandom Graham breaks out

ARLINGTON, Texas - For 3 years, Brandon Graham swore to anyone who would listen that he is not the first-round bust that many have claimed him to be.

Brandon Graham gestures after sacking Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, in Arlington, Texas. (LM Otero/AP)
Brandon Graham gestures after sacking Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, in Arlington, Texas. (LM Otero/AP)Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas - For 3 years, Brandon Graham swore to anyone who would listen that he is not the first-round bust that many have claimed him to be.

All it took was jettisoning Jason Babin to the waiver wire on Wednesday for him to finally begin his defense.

With all eyes focused on the evolving auditions of record-setting rusher Bryce Brown and quarterback Nick Foles for permanent starting roles, Graham may have been the Eagles' biggest eye opener on Sunday night in Dallas. In just one quarter's worth of work on Sunday night, Graham showed more heart than two-time Pro Bowler Babin did in the first 11 games of the season.

It was fitting, then, that Graham broke through in Dallas - tearing apart a Cowboys team whom he suffered his ACL tear against in Week 14 of his rookie season in 2010.

To simply look at Graham's numbers - four solo tackles, 1 sacks and four of the Eagles' total six hits on Tony Romo - would not do his game justice. In his first start of the season, Graham was ferocious. He was fast. And he was mean.

Perspective: Graham had more sacks in the Cowboys' first three series on Sunday than the entire Eagles' defense had in a 3-week span this season. The problem was that Graham was stuck on the sidelines most of that time.

Graham lined up against Cowboys right tackle Doug Free and netted a career high in sacks, when Babin managed just one hurry and no sacks nor tackles against him just 3 weeks prior.

Babin certainly didn't help himself with his atrocious attitude, but the Eagles didn't let him slide to Jacksonville via waivers to save money. Graham forced their hand. The Eagles simply couldn't afford to continue to sacrifice snaps for a still-developing, burgeoning player of similar talent.

(By the way: Babin was unsurprisingly a non-factor in the Jaguars' 34-18 loss in Buffalo. Jacksonville didn't have a single sack and notched just two quarterback hits.)

Babin, 32, played 446 snaps this season - a number that was steadily decreasing game-by-game since Week 8. Graham, 24, had seen less than half that number (211) through the first 11 games of the season.

Through the first 3 weeks of the season, Graham played a combined 30 snaps behind Babin. The former 13th overall pick out of Michigan was on the field for 31 plays alone last Monday night against Carolina.

He was on the field more against Dallas on Sunday night - we won't know the official number until the film is reviewed on Monday - but he is still not playing in every situation. The Eagles are big believers in keeping defensive linemen fresh with a strong rotation.

Even when he wasn't getting a ton of snaps, his ratio of reaching the quarterback was better than anyone else on the team. Heading into Sunday, Graham had sacked or hurried the quarterback on 19.8 percent of his snaps. No other Eagle was close to that mark.

If he continues to play like he did on Sunday, dragging down quarterbacks with relative ease, Graham will have proven himself in a bigger way than he ever could with his mouth.