Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley downplayed injury concerns after a brief exit during his team’s 27-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Despite missing some early action in the second quarter, Barkley was quick to assure fans that his injury wasn’t serious.
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Barkley, who has been a dominant force in the Eagles’ offense this season, took a big hit from Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick early in the second quarter.
The impact left him momentarily sidelined, and backup Kenneth Gainwell took over for a significant portion of the drive.
After briefly entering the medical tent, Barkley returned to the sideline with his helmet on, ready to rejoin the action.
“It wasn’t from the hit,”Barkley said after the game.
“Nothing crazy. A little minor. Just get ready for next week.”
Although Barkley was not a focal point of the Eagles’ first-half offense, with Jalen Hurts connecting with wide receivers A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith, his presence was still crucial in the team’s success.
When he did return to the field, Barkley showed no signs of slowing down, finishing the game with 65 yards on 19 carries.
Barkley’s pursuit of the single-season rushing record remains a key storyline for the Eagles.
With 1,688 rushing yards so far this season, he’s still on pace to break 2,000 yards – a mark only eight players in NFL history have achieved.
However, Barkley’s recent performance against Pittsburgh, combined with the missed time, has left him just short of surpassing Eric Dickerson’s long-standing record of 2,105 yards.
“I’m not going to go too much into that, but the guys stepped up big, Kenny was able to make some big plays for us and I was able to tough it out,”Barkley said.
With the season still ongoing, Barkley remains focused on his ultimate goal – rewriting the NFL’s rushing record books.
His 65-yard performance against Pittsburgh keeps him in range to break the record, though he’ll need to average more than 139 yards per game over the final stretch of the season.
