PHILADELPHIA – Saquon Barkley limped through a quiet Philadelphia Eagles locker room, his immediate and, perhaps, intermediate future in some doubt.
Playing for the first time since he suffered a hamstring injury three weeks ago, Barkley rushed for 62 yards in a touchdown in a 38-21 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday, Oct. 26. However, he also clearly was not in top form and only wound up with nine touches as the team limited his workload.
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“Banged up a little bit,” said Barkley, who’s never before dealt with a bum hammy. “I just gotta find a way to get healthy. It’s annoying, but that’s what I’m dealing with so far in the season.”
He’s also apparently dealing with a bad back, which he suggested was aggravated by the hamstring problem.
“That’s how the body works sometimes – something’s a little banged up, you overcompensate a little bit,” said Barkley, trying to loosen his back at his locker while still in his grass-stained uniform pants. “It’s just not responding the way I want it to respond right now.”
Yet getting on the field at all – even in a minor role by his standards – was something of a minor miracle, Barkley said, crediting the teams’ trainers and strength coaches.
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“They’ve been doing an amazing job – the fact I was even (able) to go out there,” the 2024 Offensive Player of the Year admitted, “they did a great job. I’m not an easy person to deal with when I’m hurt.
“I appreciate them.”
WINNERS AND LOSERS: Wounded Eagles’ face murky future after loss to Cowboys
Barkley wasn’t exactly sure when his body rebelled Monday night but thought it was one of his three touches on the opening drive, likely the 29-yard run he produced on his first carry – though his signature explosiveness was clearly missing.
“I think that’s a play that, normally with Saquon, you see him break out of that, and it’s hard to catch him in those situations,” said Eagles coach Nick Sirianni, who said Barkley was on a pitch count.
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“He definitely played a little less than what we initially thought. But like I said, he’s tough as heck and it’s good to have him back out there, just to have his presence out there and then his play-making ability.”
Despite now being 2-5 and sinking fast in the NFC standings, Barkley isn’t ready to give up on the season even as the Eagles continue to lose key starters, whether the sudden retirement of right tackle Lane Johnson, injuries to frontline performers like wideout DeVonta Smith or the controversial blood-clotting saga that has apparently ended quarterback Jalen Hurts’ campaign.
“You gotta flush it,” Barkley said in the aftermath of the Eagles’ fifth consecutive loss, something that hasn’t happened in these parts in a decade. “You’ve got to move on quick.
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“You lose two games in college, the chance for you to compete for a national championship is done. But that’s not the case here.
“I’ve seasons like this flip. … It just takes one win.”
He also cited the 2021 team, Sirianni’s first, which overcame a 3-6 to finish 9-8, good enough for a wild-card berth.
Though left tackle Jordan Mailata, who was on that Eagles squad, said flatly: “No one’s coming to save us, we’ve got to save ourselves.”
Hurts certainly isn’t going to do it, and fourth-year quarterback Tanner McKee, who has all of four NFL starts under his belt, needs to focus on playing his position, not leading this team out of the wilderness.
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“It’s gonna take me and Jordan, all of us to kind of fill that void,” Barkley said of Hurts’ absence. “I think we’re doing a great job leading, and we’re working our ass off. It sucks when the results aren’t going the way you want (them) to go.”
Break up the Eagles?
And there’s one other unknown hovering over this squad: the Nov. 10 trade deadline and the specter that GM Howie Roseman might choose to start moving veteran players for draft picks.
“You can’t control it,” said Barkley. “That’s part of the business.
“We’re still in this thing. We believe that in this locker room.”
Whether Roseman or anyone outside the locker room agrees could be a tougher sell.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Banged up’ Saquon Barkley faces uncertain future with Eagles
