New role for Portis-From SI.com

[Daseal]

Am I the only one a little worried for Clinton? During the Gibbs era he got a lot of carries, took a lot of hits, sounds like nothing is changing. I hope we put Betts out there to keep Clinton as healthy as possible.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Am I the only one a little worried for Clinton? During the Gibbs era he got a lot of carries, took a lot of hits, sounds like nothing is changing. I hope we put Betts out there to keep Clinton as healthy as possible.

Maybe we should limit him to 10 or 15 carries a game so he can play until he is in his 30's and lost a few steps. LOL

[MTK]

Originally Posted by firstdown

Maybe wae sould limit him to 10 or 15 carries a game so he can play until he is in his 30's and lost a fwe steps. LOL

I've never understood that either. By nature RBs have short careers and are prone to injury. You can't pussyfoot around the guy and worry about what his next carry may bring. He's one of our best players and we're a better team when he's getting the ball.

[GTripp0012]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I've never understood that either. By nature RBs have short careers and are prone to injury. You can't pussyfoot around the guy and worry about what his next carry may bring. He's one of our best players and we're a better team when he's getting the ball.

Well, you can work him hard...to an extent. I mean, if he gets 175 carries, or 200 this upcoming season, either way he's probably no more likely for injury with those 25 extra carries.

Here's the problem:

Clinton Portis, Carries (2004-2007)

2004: 343
2005: 352
2006: 127 (8 games missed due to injury)
2007: 325 (led NFL)

Total Carries: 1147 (20.48/Game)

With Portis, the issue is not that we're talking about the difference between a moderate workload and a slightly less than moderate workload. We always seem to push him to the max, and do a poor job of using the backup to take some pressure off him.

Here's the consequence:

Clinton Portis, Yards per Carry (2004-2007)

2004: 3.7
2005: 4.3
2006: 4.1
2007: 3.9

When healthy, I don't think we have anything to worry about with CP. He's still young. The problem his that his health is directly related to how badly we abuse him. In the Gibbs era, that was a pretty significant issue. It also isn't a glowing endorsement to Al Saunders that the back that led the league in carries didn't even average 4 yards an attempt, but I'll cut CP a break on that one because the line was decimated. Even still, it's not hard for a fresh player to run for 4.0 yards/carry if he can break a few tackles now and then.

Playing behind a varying quality of OL, this guy has yet to post a YPC of less than 4.0 in any season.

Brian Westbrook Statistics - Pro-Football-Reference.com

I hope Zorn can help CP out a little bit by giving him a higher % of his touches in the passing game, where he will be getting hit by smaller players.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Am I the only one a little worried for Clinton? During the Gibbs era he got a lot of carries, took a lot of hits, sounds like nothing is changing. I hope we put Betts out there to keep Clinton as healthy as possible.

I can see Betts being more involved, especially in the receiving game, though they're looking for route-runners at RB, it never hurts to have a nice check-down/screen/short dump back. I'm not really worried about Portis, he can handle his and hopefully he'll stay healthy. I think what will surprise most is that we're keeping the blocking schemes, though guys like Walsh did use your typical man-blocking. That's not to say we'll be going gut play after play though. CP is a threat off tackle and wider, would love to see some plays that took advantage of this more than we've seen recently.