Reserve running back has his chance to shine
ASHBURN – The annual storyline went something like this: Redskins acquire another backup running back … Rock Cartwright is irked… Cartwright pops off in the press… life goes on; and Cartwright returns to the dutiful special teams leader and his anger, but not his desire, subsides.
And it happened again this season.
The ending, though, is different this time for Cartwright. With Clinton Portis still out with a concussion and Ladell Betts out for the season with a knee injury, Cartwright becomes the Redskins’ primary back.
He will share the duties with backups Quinton Ganther and Marcus Mason at Philadelphia Sunday. But he will be the No. 1 back, a role he always felt he could handle.
“It’s one thing to feel you’re a No. 1, but it’s another when you get the opportunity to play,” Redskins running backs coach Stump Mitchell said. “Now you either can or you can’t. Rock has proven that he can play.”
“I’m happy for him,” Redskins end Phillip Daniels said. “There’s always a running back who comes in and pushes him back more and he’s finally getting his opportunity. He is the type of guy who will fight for you and that’s all you can ask for.”
In three quarters of action vs. Dallas, Cartwright rushed for 67 yards and caught seven passes for 73 more. He had gains of 34 rushing and 29 receiving. Now he gets his first start since 2003, when injuries enabled him to start three games — he gained 81 and 94 yards respectively in two of those starts.
Two year later, he rushed for 118 yards on nine carries in a game — and, partly because of fumbles, carried the ball only three times in the next four games to close the season.
In fact, over the next three seasons he only carried the ball 12 times while serving as the primary kick returner.
Over that time, the Redskins brought in T.J. Duckett and Shaun Alexander. This summer, Marcus Mason made the roster and was elevated to the No. 3 position. Cartwright talked about feeling disrespected again.
“It was crazy,” he said. “I said some things earlier in the season and you all were picking up on the emotion. But I put my faith in God and he has my back.”
Cartwright excelled at making Dallas defenders miss Sunday. Listed at 5-foot-8 and 213 pounds, Cartwright is small for a fulltime back. Perhaps that’s why no team offered him a chance to compete for a starting job when he was a free agent after the 2008 season. His size can limit him at times in pass protection, too.
“He’s aware of what people have to say about him,” Mitchell said. “He knows what he has to overcome. He knows he has something to prove. He was telling people he can play, but he had the opportunity as a free agent and no one gave him that opportunity [to start]. Until you prove someone wrong, the perception someone has about it is [reality].”
Now he has a chance.
“I know how to run the ball. I know how to catch the ball and I know how to block,” said Cartwright, a special teams captain. “I know what I’m capable of doing.”
