Dallas Cowboys owner/general manager Jerry Jones questioned how tough his marquee running back was after learning he wasn't joining the team in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
Jones said he thought Barber's dislocated pinkie toe could have been taped and that any soreness was such that it was simply something that he could have played through.
"He can play with that injured toe," Jones said. "He can play with the soreness, combination of those things. I see nothing that would have led us to believe that he couldn't."
After having a quarterback play with a broken pinkie finger and a tight end play with broken ribs -- some might say that Jones was right to expect Marion the Barbarian to soldier on this late in the season.
Some think Jones is just lashing out. As Yahoo writer Matthew J. Darnell wrote, "I think it's usually best to tread lightly where another man's injury is concerned, especially for a guy like Barber, whose toughness, to my knowledge, has never been up for debate before."
Barber's status for Sunday's game against the New York Giants is not known.
