Leonard Fournette tweets he’s playing through painful foot injury

Less than 12 hours after his most prolific performance of the season, Bucs tailback Leonard Fournette lowered his head once more, directly toward his critics via Twitter.

In the process, he revealed his 162-yard effort in Sunday night’s 19-16 overtime win against the Cardinals came despite a Lisfranc injury — one of his profession’s most serious foot ailments.

“I hate when people be on here just talking saying I’m out of shape etc.,” Fournette tweeted at 10:24 a.m. Monday.

“Do y’all understand I’m playing with a lisfranc (sic) in my foot every week can barley (sic) push off my foot but through the Grace of God I’m going to keep proving y’all wrong.”

The tweet was deleted shortly thereafter.

“He ran pretty good (Sunday), so I don’t know the severity of it yet,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said during his regular Monday media session. “The training room doesn’t open until 3 (p.m.) today, so I’ll get the reports then.”

Lisfranc injuries are usually caused by a severe twisting of the foot that creates a fracture, dislocation, or ligament strain or tear in the middle of the foot, according to the UT Southwestern Medical Center website. Bucs inside linebacker Lavonte David missed three games with the injury last December and returned for the playoffs, but acknowledged he wasn’t near 100%.

On Sunday, Fournette led the Bucs (7-8) in rushing (20 carries, 72 yards) and receiving (nine catches, 90 yards), with a 4-yard run and 4-yard catch in overtime. Though rookie counterpart Rachaad White ran for 25 yards on his first two touches, he finished with only seven carries as Bowles said the staff opted to ride “the hot hand” and primarily use Fournette down the stretch.

“Awesome job. Awesome job,” quarterback Tom Brady said of Fournette’s performance. “He ran really hard, was on a mission, ran through arm tackles, ran hard, caught the ball well, pass protected well.”

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