Saquon Barkley says he’s ‘good to go’ for Monday’s game in Chicago after suffering stinger in Week 2
Barkley said he will likely continue wearing the cowboy collar and believes the stinger won't affect him on the field vs. the Bears with an extra day to prepare this week.
Despite dropping out of the Eagles’ Week 2 win against the Tennessee Titans with a stinger, a nerve injury in the neck, Saquon Barkley said he’s “good to go” for Monday night’s game against the Chicago Bears.
Barkley, the 29-year-old running back, sustained the injury on the first play of the contest and missed the rest of the first half. He returned in the second half, but was not on the field for most of the fourth quarter, including the game-winning drive orchestrated by Jalen Hurts.
Going into the second half, Barkley said he felt like he had his strength back. He dropped out again because “it didn’t go the way I thought it was going to go,” he said.
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Barkley said he will likely continue wearing the cowboy collar — a neck protection device — that he sported when he returned to the Titans game. But with an extra day to prepare this week before leaving for Chicago, Barkley said the stinger shouldn’t affect him on the field.
“That’s why I’m rehabbing my [butt] off to get as strong as it needs to be,” Barkley said on Friday. “I feel like I’m in a really good spot. I know they wouldn’t let me go up there if I wasn’t able to do it. So I feel like I’m in a good spot, and I’m just going to let the game come. And I’m going to go out there and play fearless.”
Barkley underwent an MRI during the week to ensure that his injury wasn’t worse than the initial diagnosis. He acknowledged that he has a history of stingers, but this is the first “bad one” he has had in a long time.
Five days after sustaining the injury, Barkley said his strength is back and he’s calmed down the nerve that he agitated. He was upgraded to a full participant in Friday’s practice after participating in a limited capacity on Thursday.
In his ninth NFL season, Barkley said he has a “super active” focus on maintaining his lower body and promoting his longevity. But he conceded that he hasn’t put an equal emphasis on his neck stability and strength to this point.
Barkley said the injury has served as a “wake-up call” in that regard. Now, with the training staff’s help, he’s making his neck a priority in his routine.
“They put together a great game plan for me, and I’ve just been trying to follow that to the best of my abilities, and I’m excited for another opportunity this week,” Barkley said.
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Barkley and the Eagles’ blocking unit have another opportunity to make strides in the run game amid an average start to the season. Through two games, the Eagles rank in the middle of the pack of the league in expected points added per rush, according to Next Gen Stats.
The new-look Eagles offense under Sean Mannion places an emphasis on marrying the run with the pass. If the run game can’t get going, and if the Eagles can’t stay on schedule when negative plays and penalties put them behind the sticks, then building the play-action pass game off the threat of the run becomes more difficult.
But Barkley didn’t express concern about the state of the Eagles’ run game heading into their third game of the year. He said the run game is not a finished product — nor should it be at this point.
“It’s all relatively new to all of us in the run game,” Barkley said. “As we’re learning and trying to continue to buy into something new, we’re going out there and we’re seeing some funky looks, some weird looks. It’s a sign that the defense [is] still respecting the run game, which has opened up other things. But it’s going to be a beautiful thing when we’re all firing on the same page.
“And talking to [Jalen Hurts] and the guys about it, and talking to the O-line, it’s not like a sense of any panic. Everybody wants the big numbers, but I’m in a good spot of knowing that the work that’s being put in, and just continue to focus on our process, and the results will come.”
The Eagles survived -- again. This time, instead of holding on for dear life as they did in their opener against Washington, the Eagles came from behind in the final minutes to pull out a gutsy win at Tennessee, with their quarterback leading the way. With the Eagles 2-0, The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Mike Sielski examine Jalen Hurts’ promising performance through two games, and dig into the uneven play of the defense. Listen here.
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