Running back Clinton Portis doesn’t share the dire reports that his season could be over. And he’s not even sure he buys the initial prognosis that he’ll miss four to six weeks.
“I got no doubts that I’ll be running the ball again this year,” Portis said. “I can’t control what type of uniform it’s in, I would hope it’s a Redskins uniform.”
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If he plays again this season, not sure what other uniform he would wear considering he still would have value here. Nobody would trade for an injured running back (the deadline is Oct. 19). So this is a little bit of Clinton being Clinton. Still, we’ll play along. In his mind every year for the past four or five has possibly been his last in Washington.
Anyway, as for the timetable – which coach Mike Shanahan gave — Portis said on 106.7 The Fan this morning that, “That’s the reports. They’re based on everybody who goes through the injury. I pull some amazing healing, which has everyone questioning if I was ever hurt.
“If you look on the charts throughout my career, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday I’ve been down days and can’t run and can’t move and Friday and Saturday all a sudden I’m ready for the game. I’ll do the correct thing and get myself completely healthy and help this team as much as I can.”
The problem is, Portis said the groin injury – it’s a third degree separation – still bothers him. He hurt his groin in the Oct. 3 win at Philadelphia.
“This is a tricky injury,” he said. “I never would have thought nine days later I would still be sore. It still hurts to get out of bed and roll over and hobble around. But I can tell I’m getting better. It was a consistent pain all day long, just aching. Now at times when I sit still and not doing anything, it’s OK until I get ready to get up. I just have to wait and continue to rehab.”
It’s just another obstacle for Portis; at least that’s how he views it. But he’s also 29 and after a groin injury like this occurs, the odds of another one happening increase.
“Everyone gets injured,” he said. “Three major injuries in my career and ooooh, I’m injury prone all of the sudden. You take bumps and bruises in this game. You just have to be ready. Mentally I’m strong. I believe I can get back and help this team as much as I can and I will.”
Two reasons he wants to return: getting to 10,000 career yards rushing and breaking John Riggins’ all-time franchise rushing record. He’s 681 yards from breaking Riggins’ record of 7,472 yards and Portis is 109 yards from 10,000.
On the 10,000-yard mark, Portis said: “It’s a lot of motivation to get back in there to hit 10 thousand. You don’t come this close to drop me off here. I’ll be in there no ifs ands or buts about it. At a point I never cared about [just] 10 thousand yards. I wanted Emmitt Smith numbers. To get 10 thousand and join elite company would be a great tribute. I’m looking forward to it.”
As for Riggins mark, Portis said: “That would be even better to be the leading rusher in a storied franchise. Right now it’s exciting, just the chase alone. It’s been held for so long. You can see the love that he still gets for having that record. Anytime you have the opportunity to break that for a storied franchise that has done as much, it’s hard to have that kind of tenure with one franchise where you have an opportunity to break a John Riggins record. When you think of Riggins, you’re thinking about Super Bowls and toughness. For myself to be in that company one, two or however it pans out, even to be in that company is a great tribute.”
Portis had strong comments on Riggins and the record last year.
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