After last Saturday night's 34-14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, Wade Phillips said of starting running back Marion barber that he "wasn't feeling right." This explained why Barber's last carry came midway through the first quarter, but little else beyond that. Like, for example, his status for this Sunday's divisional round game with Minnesota.
The injury--the source of Barber "not feeling right," was revealed a day later to be a swollen bursa sac, and the former Pro Bowler was held out of practice on Wednesday to rest the injury, which can limit range of motion and cause discomfort.
That is, the first half of the week didn't augur so well for Barber. This is far from a death knell for Dallas's hopes; Barber's absence on Saturday was subjugated to footnote-status when Felix Jones went off for 148 yards, the third-most in the franchise's extensive postseason history.
But Minnesota's defense is such that a full complement of running backs might be necessary; the Vikes finished the regular season second in the conference in terms of run defense, surrendering just 87.9 yards per game on the ground. For this reason, Wade Phillips' insistence yesterday that Barber wants to play Sunday in his home state comes as a fairly incontrovertible positive for the Cowboys' prospects.
"Marion really wants to play in this ballgame," Phillips said, per ESPN Dallas. "If there's any way he could play he will, and I think he's better."
Barber's status for today's practice is uncertain.
