Eagles Player Angrily Texting Fan At Halftime A 'Mistake': Sirianni

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Social media has added an entirely new dimension to player etiquette in professional sports.

Calls from the wilds of the problem platforms got the better of Philadelphia Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell at halftime Sunday, shortly after he fumbled a ball deep in Commanders territory.

Another social media user wrote "hold onto the football you (expletive) bum," according to numerous screenshots, because unfortunately, that's just what fans do.

Moments later, inside the locker room, Gainwell got on his device and wrote back to the stranger "Lil boy don't text me."

This week, head coach Nick Sirianni told the media during a press conference that he'd spoken with Gainwell and that Gainwell "knows he made a mistake."

"These guys have some time away from us when we get into the locker room where they sit down at their locker," Sirianni said. "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. 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."

The 24-year-old Gainwell is in his third year with the Birds and is averaging three yards per carry with a touchdown this season.

It remains to be seen if Gainwell fully establishes himself in Philadelphia and if "lil boy don't text me" takes it's place next to "we're talkin about practice" and "I (expletive) hate this place" in the pantheon of misunderstood but immortal and ultimately beloved moments in the history of Philadelphia sports silliness.