One of the plethora of questions facing the Philadelphia Eagles heading into their Week 7 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football is if star running back Saquon Barkley will be able to play.
Barkley has missed the last two games for Philadelphia due to a hamstring injury, but he’s moving in the right direction. He returned to the practice field this week, but his final status for Monday night remains to be seen. Unsurprisingly, Barkley hopes to be out there.
Saquon Barkley Would ‘Love’ to Play on Monday Night Football
During his media availability on Thursday, Barkley provided some insight into his injury status, revealing that he wanted to try to play against the Carolina Panthers in Week 6 but was ultimately held out, which was probably a wise decision.
“To be honest, I was trying to go last week. It sounded great in my head, and then you sit and you’re like, ‘Maybe they were right,'” Barkley said.
“But I’m happy to have the opportunity to go out there and test it, and God willing, just continue to trend in the right direction throughout the week, and to be able to go and play Monday night, I would love to be out there.”
But while he hopes to play, Barkley stopped short of guaranteeing that he’ll be able to.
“I would be doing myself a disservice to sit here and say that Monday night, I’m guaranteeing myself to play,” Barkley added. “I do know that I have all trust in the trainers and all trust in [head athletic trainer] Tom [Hunkele] and [senior athletic trainer Jerome Reid].”
Keep an eye on the next two injury reports for Philadelphia. We’ll learn more about Barkley’s status for the game against the Cowboys in the coming days.
Saquon Barkley Wants Eagles to Channel Their Inner Rocky
Barkley knows that faith in the Eagles has died down substantially since the start of the season, but he thinks that embracing the underdog role could be beneficial for Philly moving forward, kind of like a famous fictional movie character from the city.
“No one kind of believes in us anymore, but there’s a reason why there’s a statue of a fictional boxer, and his name is Rocky, and that’s what this town’s about,” Barkley said. “And I feel like they’re going to back us up, but also it takes us to take that mindset, and the leadership’s going to have to step up, and positivity is going to have to be at an all-time high.”
Barkley’s return would be just what the doctor ordered for an Eagles offense that has mustered just 57 total rush yards over the past two games. But, we’ll have to wait and see if he’s fully cleared.
