Nick Sirianni: Kenneth Gainwell ‘knows he made a mistake’ with social media reply at halftime of Eagles’ win

Along with discussing his team’s Week 8 win over the Commanders, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni addressed other issues at his Monday press conference, including running back Kenneth Gainwell’s social media response to fan criticism during halftime of Sunday’s 38-31 win.

At halftime of the game, Gainwell responded via social media to a vulgar direct message (“hold onto the football you f—ing bum”) that was in response to the running back’s first-half fumble. “Lil boy don’t text me,” was Gainwell’s response to the message. 

“Of course, we talked to Kenny about that,” Sirianni said. “These guys have some time away from us when we get into the locker room where they sit down at their locker. They do whatever is going to take their mind and just calm it.

“This is part of these guys’ lives, is some of that stuff,” Sirianni continued. “He’s sitting at the locker. Should he respond to somebody that’s DM’ing him? No, he shouldn’t respond to that guy or that girl at all.

“And so, yes of course we talked to him about that, to be locked in and focused and not worried about outside noise. He knows he made a mistake responding back to that person, who I’m assuming is an Eagles’ fan and then took a snapshot and posted it. That’s a whole different set of issues if he’s an Eagles fan.” 

As far as Gainwell’s play, Sirianni said that he hasn’t lost any faith in him despite his tough sledding Sunday on the ground. Gainwell rushed for -4 yards on two carries but made up for it by catching each of his five targets. 

“Kenny had a fumble this week, but he had an unbelievable run the week before against Miami,” Sirianni said of Gainwell, a 2021 fifth-round pick who has 11 career regular season touchdowns. “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.”