Gruden wants more respect for Earnest Graham. Just give him the ball more, Coach.

GRUDEN ON RB EARNEST GRAHAM

“I hope somebody recognizes, maybe one of these fancy cable channels, recognizes that we have one hell of a back here. I know they have all of these other backs they have to cover, but this guy has had 100 yards in almost every game he’s played in here, period. Maybe somebody will step up to the plate and recognize that he is a big-time back. He makes some explosive runs and I just hope Earnest Graham gets the respect he deserves. He’s very overshadowed, in my opinion.”

Joe likes what Gruden had to say in this post-game quote. But one has to wonder if Gruden realizes that he, too, didn’t recognize what he had in Graham until there were no other options in the backfield last year.

Joe would like to see Graham catch more balls out of the backfield. He only has five in four games this season, but he caught 49 in limited action in 2007.

He’s tough. He falls forward. He takes care of the ball. And he clearly gets better as the game wears on.  He’s 28 years old. This is his prime, and he should be a workhorse.