Barkley said Monday that his back injury was compensatory after he tweaked his hamstring on his first run of the game and tried to play through it, EJ Smith of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Barkley had been dealing with a hamstring injury for multiple weeks coming into Monday, but he tried to tough it out and give Philadelphia a boost. He did just that on Philadelphia's first drive, as he gained 12 yards on a reception on the first play and immediately followed that with a 29-yard rush. Barkley appeared to pull up a bit lame on the latter play, but he still managed an eight-yard rushing TD less than two minutes later. However, the star running back was used only intermittently for the remainder of the contest, and Dameon Pierce ended up logging 14 carries (on which he gained 47 yards and scored a TD) to Barkley's seven. Smith reports that Barkley was on a "pitch count" ahead of Monday's game; however, he was deemed questionable to return early in the fourth quarter with what was described as a back injury and never returned. It appears the back issue was a side effect of Barkley tweaking the hamstring problem, which casts considerable doubt on his ability to suit up next Sunday against the Commanders.