Kenneth Gainwell's Halftime Actions Could Land Him in Bigger Trouble After Week 8 Fumble

Sunday wasn't a banner day for a few Philadelphia Eagles players. Running back Kenneth Gainwell had one of the team's ugliest showings against the Washington Commanders, committing a costly fumble on the 3-yard-line that robbed Philadelphia of points in what ended up being a tight win.

While head coach Nick Sirianni said he's not going to go away from Gainwell despite his slip-up, the RB's halftime social media activity might land him in some legitimate trouble.

A Twitter user who also runs an Eagles-dedicated Instagram account posted a screenshot of a direct message conversation they had with Gainwell. After telling the running back to "hold on to the football you [expletive] bum," Gainwell actually replied during halftime. The 24-year-old said "Lil boy don't text me" in response.

Some who saw this were quick to say it's photoshopped, considering how crazy it seems. Yet, the user involved also included a screen recording of the conversation (with timestamps of when the messages were sent), which appears to indicate Gainwell was on his phone at halftime.

This is an incredibly bad look for the running back. Yes, fans should not be DMing anyone and ripping them unprompted with swear words. At the same time, players can't also stoop this low level -- espeically when a game is currenly going on.

It's safe to say Gainwell's priorities were absolutely in the wrong place at this moment. He was more focused on firing back at a hater, and thus getting distracted, rather than locking in at halftime and trying to help his squad make up an early deficit.

Gainwell's played ezteremly poorly over the last five weeks, failing to record more than 20 rushing yards in any contest. Though Sirianni clearly wants to support his RB, Gainwell's halftime actions may jeopardize any trust here.

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