Clinton Portis

[skinsnut]

I have to question why BETTS and PORTIS and taking equal time this year.
Yes, Betts had a good year last year....and Portis had a better one the year before....the reason?

Good Running Backs get better as the game progresses, the more touches they get, the better feel they get as to where the holes will open up.
At this point I doubt the benefit of "keeping them fresh" exceeds the benefit of "improved Yards Per Carry" as the game progresses.

I say...keep Portis in 75% of the time and only put Betts in when he needs a break.

And, BTW....it was INSANE or STUPID to not have your best running back in with 4 plays to go at the FREAKING 1 yard line with the game on the line....running BETTS wide is stupid....it NEVER WORKS....NEVER!
(especially on the left where they are expecting it due to our line issues)
DUH!

Its the annual time of year to place or hopes on DALLAS losing before the Super Bowl....this is still a 7-9 Redskins team...ugh.

[killromo]

Originally Posted by skinsnut

DUH!

Its the annual time of year to place or hopes on DALLAS losing before the Super Bowl....this is still a 7-9 Redskins team...ugh.

Man I hope you're wrong, Dallas looks like the best in the NFC by far. I'm pulling for Green Bay if the Skins cant do it. But fuck lets get this ship righted and fire whoever was play-calling the 2nd half, was it gibbs or saunders or both?

[ronnieo]

I agree, Portis is the guy near the goal line. It wold be nice to hammer Sellers in there from a yard out also. Running the ball to the left was very predictable and they certainly knew it was coming. Portis defintely gets better as the game pregresses. The way the NFC looks right now we are right in the thick of things with two games against the cowboys. A lot of football left to be played but 3 and 0 would have been nice.

[dgack]

I'll tell you why CP isn't in there on goal line carries, because Joe's inclined to call the same basic play -- run it up the gut. And remember back to '05 when we'd see CP get stuffed 3 times at the goal line on 3 attempts, and then we'd end up kicking it?

Sellers should have been in on those plays and not as a receiver, either.

[Southpaw]

Originally Posted by dgack

I'll tell you why CP isn't in there on goal line carries, because Joe's inclined to call the same basic play -- run it up the gut. And remember back to '05 when we'd see CP get stuffed 3 times at the goal line on 3 attempts, and then we'd end up kicking it?

Sellers should have been in on those plays and not as a receiver, either.

The problem is, neither of the final two runs were "up the gut". Both were wide, and the second looked like it was supposed to be off tackle, which is Portis' bread and butter.

But I agree that Sellers should have gotten the ball on a FB dive at least once. He's pushing 300 pounds... he can fall foward for a god damn yard.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

The problem is, neither of the final two runs were "up the gut". Both were wide, and the second looked like it was supposed to be off tackle, which is Portis' bread and butter..

Agreed, I'm just suggesting a reason why I think Gibbs may be scared of using CP in goal-line situations. He hasn't been particularly effective in them with our playcalling and o-line.

I'm one of those guys who'd much rather have a 3rd and goal from the 8 than be on the 1 yardline with 3 chances to punch it in. We just don't know how to / have the personnel to do that anymore, and I think that just doesn't compute with Joe.

[DiehardSkin88]

This game cleary showed who is the better back. Betts has had 1 good year, he had his first td as a redskin in 05, how many has portis had for us since 04..... Betts is not a good runner, puts his head down and will try and run over ppl without even looking his team or the other, dont matter

[jdlea]

Originally Posted by DiehardSkin88

This game cleary showed who is the better back. Betts has had 1 good year, he had his first td as a redskin in 05, how many has portis had for us since 04..... Betts is not a good runner, puts his head down and will try and run over ppl without even looking his team or the other, dont matter

I think saying he's not a good runner is a little much, but the guy shouldn't have been the one toting the rock on the goalline with the game on the line.

[Rajmahal33]

There is no question that you put ur best player in the game on the field for those 4 plays...that player being Clinton Portis. Aside from having more game experience, he also draws more attention from the defense (i.e. the initial play action pass to Sellers would have been more wide open and would have had a better chance at working). In addition Portis is better at the goal-line no question and he does well after first contact.

That being said, it was just one game and if you really want to search for answers, I think our bigger problem is the play-calling throughout the entire 2nd half and our defense's inability to play pass defense. Eli is a good QB when he has time and he proved it by leading those 3 drives. Why can't Carlos Rogers play in coverage? If those Giants receivers had caught some very catchable balls we could have been blown out and it wouldn't have mattered whether we could have scored on our last possession. Another obvious problem that is going to come back to us is that our O-line is not fast enough, to pick up blitzes or to pull and do some of those more elaborate (Joe Gibbs style) run blocks. Somebody earlier said we are about a 7-9 team. I wouldn't go that far b/c we have the benefit of an easy schedule so i'd say 9-7 or so.

[Chief X_Phackter]

Originally Posted by Rajmahal33

There is no question that you put ur best player in the game on the field for those 4 plays...that player being Clinton Portis. Aside from having more game experience, he also draws more attention from the defense (i.e. the initial play action pass to Sellers would have been more wide open and would have had a better chance at working). In addition Portis is better at the goal-line no question and he does well after first contact.

That being said, it was just one game and if you really want to search for answers, I think our bigger problem is the play-calling throughout the entire 2nd half and our defense's inability to play pass defense. Eli is a good QB when he has time and he proved it by leading those 3 drives. Why can't Carlos Rogers play in coverage? If those Giants receivers had caught some very catchable balls we could have been blown out and it wouldn't have mattered whether we could have scored on our last possession. Another obvious problem that is going to come back to us is that our O-line is not fast enough, to pick up blitzes or to pull and do some of those more elaborate (Joe Gibbs style) run blocks. Somebody earlier said we are about a 7-9 team. I wouldn't go that far b/c we have the benefit of an easy schedule so i'd say 9-7 or so.

What schedule are you looking at? Easy?

Detroit (2-1) dangerous offense, doesn't bode well for our coverage problems
at Green Bay (3-0) probably the 2nd best in the NFC at this point
Arizona - another good corps of wide receivers, doable
at New England (3-0) don't need to say anything here
at NY Jets - probably doable
Philadelphia - intra-division, always tough
at Dallas (3-0) probably the best in the NFC at this point
at Tampa Bay (2-1) solid defensively, but doable
Buffalo - if there's a cream puff on the schedule, this would be it
Chicago - a defensive struggle, but doable
at NY Giants - payback time, but a difficult game on the road
at Minnesota - probably doable
Dallas - at least we're at home

Not an easy schedule, but nothing's really changed. Most people wouldn't have us better than 2-1 now anyway, we just lost the wrong game.

[DGreene28]

It's not hard to see that Portis has a lot more athleticism then Betts. On 3rd down if that's Portis in the backfield Pierce doesnt get a clean hit and he reaches the ball into the endzone. Last year our O-line was great, Timmy Smith could have run for 100 yards a game. Betts is not the franchise RB that can carry a team. He is however a very servicable backup who can step in and be solid if unspectacular.

PORTIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN THE GAME!!!

Bad call Gibbs/Saunders.

[offiss]

All this Betts Portis stuff is a none factor, neither is capable of knocking a LB, or a DL backwards, so it really didn't matter which one was in because they were going to have to run through someone because there is no way our line was going to block all those defenders, especially on an off tackle play when the Giants are selling out like they were out of desperation, the guy who can run through people is Sellars, and Gibbs just doesn't get it. I am tired of hearing how Portis would have scored, when is the last time he ran through anyone? He has been stopped continuously in short yard gut plays since he's arrived in DC, he is not a short yardage back.

Yes he's been finding the end zone but smash mouth is not his bread and butter. Sellars just may be the best short yardage back in the league, I have never seen the guy stopped on a short yardage play, let alone 4 carries in a row, Gibbs has the horses, he just don't know how to ride'em.

[BrunellMVP?]

to be honest, yes, I'd rather have seen portis in, but I don't care who is back there...we should have scored. portis, betts or sellers...whatever...

[skinsfan242]

Originally Posted by BrunellMVP?

to be honest, yes, I'd rather have seen portis in, but I don't care who is back there...we should have scored. portis, betts or sellers...whatever...

Betts is good between the 20's. Last year we had a problem scoring inside the 5 because Betts was playing not Portis. Portis has scored all three times we were inside the 10 this year. Why he was not is beyond me.

Another point, why don't we use the naked bootleg? I've never seen that play stopped in my life! It was the perfect time they new were were going left and cheating that way.

[dgack]

Originally Posted by skinsfan242

Another point, why don't we use the naked bootleg? I've never seen that play stopped in my life! It was the perfect time they new were were going left and cheating that way.

Amen. It's not like we've got gimpy, glass-crafted Brunell in there. J-Cam should *easily* score on that call, and he's shown that he can take a little contact with no ill effects.