Clinton Portis' Workload

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Clinton Portis has 325 carries through 16 games, thats the most in the NFL.

Portis has been very inconsistent this season. Most of the year, he struggled to find running lanes, averaging under 4 yards a carry. Recently, however, Portis has been playing great, as he does every December.

There is little doubt that putting the ball in the hands of a healthy Portis gives us our best chance to win in the playoffs on a weekly basis.

However, if we play more than one playoff game, it appears that Portis will carry the ball in excess of 300 times. No back not named Eric Dickerson has ever carried the ball more than 370 times and bounced back to have another good season the following season. The last time Portis broke the 340 threshold, he couldn't even make it through the first preseason drive without getting injured.

Think about Shaun Alexander's '06, and Larry Johnson's 07.

The question is, should we ride Clinton Portis in the playoffs, knowing full well that if we do, chances are that he will have an injury-riddled '08 campaign? Is it worth it?

Obviously if we went to the super bowl, it would be worth it. But what if we beat the Seahawks and lose to the Cowboys, and Portis carries 50 times between the two games. Have we made a mistake?

Can we possibly hope to win on the arm of our quarterback as opposed to the legs of our running back?