Running back having the best start of his career
Clinton Portis can imagine the future. Not that there’s anything wrong with the present, mind you. But Portis has a vision: less defenders in the box; more weapons for the defense to cover.
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And more yards for him.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “Teams are really focusing on taking the run away and we’ve had success while teams are focusing on that.”
So when they start focusing more on the pass … it’s enough to make Portis and the Redskins giddy.
But it’ll be hard to top what he’s done in the first five games. Portis is off to the best five-game start in his career. He’s rushed for 514 yards on 114 carries, averaging 4.5 yards a run — his best figure since 2003, his second season in Denver.
And he was named the NFC’s Offensive Player of the Week after rushing for 145 yards in Washington’s 23-17 win over Philadelphia. Which prompted Portis to both poke fun at and thank his linemen at the same time.
“They feel like I’m supposed to take them out to eat or do something,” he said. “But that’s what they’re supposed to do. I was going to tell them thanks. I don’t want them to get used to doing something good and patting them on the shoulders, handing them envelopes with money, giving them plasma TVs. That’s what they’re looking for.”
But, mostly, what everyone is looking for is what Portis has delivered. In the second half of the past two games, he’s rushed for a combined 187 yards. He’s even caught eight passes, including one Sunday where he lined up in the slot, made an adjustment on a blitz and caught a nine-yard pass.
“He’s even more resourceful than I would hope for in a running back,” Redskins coach Jim Zorn said. “He keeps driving. And if [the linemen] keep driving, there’s two or three more yards that he’s going to get. … Really, I can’t say enough [about him].”
Said left tackle Chris Samuels, “It juices us up and takes something out of a defense. When we played the Giants, he had a big chip block and knocked the guy down. Ever since then those guys look for the chip block so it slows down the rush.”
Portis is also back to breaking longer runs. In his last 452 carries in Joe Gibbs’ offense, Portis had only six runs of 20 yards or more. He’s already had four such runs this season.
“I always could do it, I just wasn’t in position to do it,” Portis said. “When you’re the focal point and they stick 10 in the box, there’s not much I can do. … Don’t jump on my bandwagon, I think I’ve always been the same running back. I’m back to having the opportunity to showcase my talent.”
