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This probably wasn’t a good idea. Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell took a seat in the lockerroom at halftime of the Commanders game Sunday, grabbed his phone and checked Instagram.
And if taking your mind off the game wasn’t bad enough, he fired off a message to an Eagles fan who wasn’t thrilled with Gainwell’s fumble. Yes, someone sent a DM to Gainwell, telling the running back to “Hold on to the football you f—–g bum.”
Gainwell’s response: “Lil boy don’t text me.” Even the fan knew Gainwell answering him during a game wasn’t a terrific idea. He shot back “get off your phone” while adding “just use some glue, I’m trying to win it all. Keeping grinding, tho.”
Of course Gainwell’s DM found it’s way onto mainstream social media. So everybody knew the Eagles running back wasn’t fully concentrating on football. Here’s the Kenneth Gainwell fumble in question. The Eagles were behind Washington 14-3 and Gainwell fumbled in the red zone.
On Eagles first and goal, Kam Curl tears the ball free from Gainwell, and the Commanders gather the fumble.#HTTC #Curl #flyeaglesfly pic.twitter.com/8jN3mMIQR9
— SmashMouthin' Football
(@SMingFootball) October 29, 2023
A day later, reporters asked Eagles coach Nick Sirianni about the Kenneth Gainwell social media football faux pas.
“Of course we talked to Kenny about that,” Sirianni told the media. “These guys have some time away from us when we get into the locker room. Where they sit down at their locker and they do whatever’s going to take their mind and just calm it. This is part of these guys’ lives, some of this stuff. … No, he shouldn’t respond to that guy or that girl at all.
“Yes, of course we’ve talked to him about that, to be locked in, to be focused and not focused on outside noise. And he knows he made a mistake responding back to that person.”
The Eagles drafted Gainwell, the former Memphis star, in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He’s the primary backup for D’Andre Swift. So he probably shouldn’t be using halftime to check his DMs.
Maybe Kenneth Gainwell knew he’d screwed up at halftime. On Philadelphia’s first drive of the second half, the running back caught a 17-yard pass for a first down. Overall. he had five catches in five targets. But his running left a lot to be desired. He ended the game with two carries for a negative four yards.
Still, Sirianni was supportive of his back.
“Kenny had a fumble this week, but he had an unbelievable run the week before against Miami,” Sirianni said. “One reaction to a mistake, if we reacted sometimes maybe I feel like how people want us to react at times, then all of our guys make mistakes. We wouldn’t have anybody to put in. … I still have a lot of faith in these guys, and I still have a lot of faith in Kenny.”
More must-reads:
- Winners and losers from Day 2 of the 2024 NFL Draft
- Eagles move up in draft to select another DB
- The '100 catches in an NFL season' quiz
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