What Do We Do If Portis Goes Down???

[CPortizzleRUN]

I hate to be a negative nancy here, but what will we do if Clinton Portis goes down? Nobody can deny that he had issues with his durability in Denver. If Portis plays all sixteen games, I know we will be a playoff caliber team. But if he does go down, do you think Joe Gibbs can win with Ladell "fragile" Betts or Rock "sub 5-8" Carwright???

[C-7]

I hate to be a negative nancy here, but what will we do if Clinton Portis goes down? Nobody can deny that he had issues with his durability in Denver. If Portis plays all sixteen games, I know we will be a playoff caliber team. But if he does go down, do you think Joe Gibbs can win with Ladell "fragile" Betts or Rock "sub 5-8" Carwright???




We pray.

[redwolf1218]

thats a good question. its really the only position on the team where i'd be concerned about our depth. we seem to have great depth everywhere else. i hope betts is better than i think he is. i still cant figure out why we used a 2nd round pick on him in the first place.

[hail2skins]

I don't see a depth issue with the running backs. You have Portis, Betts, and Rock.

[redwolf1218]

I don't see a depth issue with the running backs. You have Portis, Betts, and Rock.
i guess what i meant was, the drop off. sure there are guys there, but it seems like a huge drop off from portis to whomever is next.

[davaj]

depends on how well the Hogs develope. Betts and Cartwright should be a yard/carry better w/ the Hogs and counter trey.

[redwolf1218]

morton could get some playing time as well.

[C-7]

I don't see a depth issue with the running backs. You have Portis, Betts, and Rock.


Are you serious? Do you think Betts and Cartiwright can handle the running if Portis goes down?

[redwolf1218]

to me, the fact that we dont even know who is 2nd on the depth chart behind portis means they are all equally unproven.

[RedskinsVision]

half the board likes Betts.. and half the board also likes Rock.. so between those 2 we have a decent backup. put Morton and either McCollough and Simon and u have a decent 3rd-4th RB. Portis going down would effect the O more so then Coles going down since we have better depth at WR but between Betts, Morton, Rock and a hard place, we shouldn't be that bad.. although I'd be praying for CPo's return..

[redwolf1218]

morton is 5'-8 and 203. he had 4.5 yards per carry. rock is 5'-7 and 223 with 3.8 yds/carry. betts is 5'-10 and 222 with 3.3 yds/carry. morton might be the best option. betts should have done better than 3.3 per carry. rock was in on a lot of short yardage stuff so i can better understand him having a low average.

[CPortizzleRUN]

I'm still not sold on our back-ups. If the worst happens, I hope we can stay balanced on offense with the minimal talent we have backing up Portis. But I'm not going to worry to much because of the respect I have for Gibbs.

[NCskinsfanatic]

It all comes down to Bugel and the offensive line. If he has them playing up to their potential then Betts, Rock and Morton can get the job done. Remember when the Hogs were good? It didnt matter if it was Riggins, Washington, Riggs, Rogers, Bryant, Byner or Mitchell were in, they all got yards. After Portis there would be a significant drop off . How noticeable that droppoff is depends on a few dirtbags and one of the games best O line coaches. I'll put my money on the Bags and Buges...... :)

[C-7]

It would be like being the Dolphins and losing Ricky Williams.

[hockeygoalie29]

morton is 5'-8 and 203. he had 4.5 yards per carry. rock is 5'-7 and 223 with 3.8 yds/carry. betts is 5'-10 and 222 with 3.3 yds/carry. morton might be the best option. betts should have done better than 3.3 per carry. rock was in on a lot of short yardage stuff so i can better understand him having a low average.

Those numbers don't tell the whole tale though. Morton was hardly ever used as a running back and is the most fragile of the bunch. No way would I want him pounding it up the middle every down. Like you said, Rock was a short-yardage back most of the time, bringing his average down. Betts, well, nothing I can say except that we might as well have Eddie George back there with those numbers!!

[redwolf1218]

i like morton's speed, i just dont know if he's durable enough. i'd like to see what he can do with some extended playing time. wasnt he a tailback in college? last year when he got hurt we had no return man. at least if he got hurt this year, thrash could be the return man.

[ramseyfan1]

this O line "the dirtbags" are going to be able to make some holes that any of those backs will be a decent fill in for portis if we get some bad luck with portis and an injury.

[3CardMonte]

cry

[GoDannyBoy]

The first few games last year our yards/rush were not bad, then everything fell apart. So I am hoping that Betts can run better behind a Buges line.

It just would not be as much fun watching Betts as Portis, I hope Portis holds up.

[Emmanouel8]

I tend to agree w/ Redwolf. Morton and Rock will be more productive and durable than Betts. Between the 3 we'd lose our mojo at RB but we can use our depth at WR and H Back to compensate. If our Oline is as good as it is on paper it will make any RB look good under Bugel and Co. Remember R.Brooks and Ricky Irvin in '91 (behind the hogs but I don't think Bugel was in DC, Raiders?!).

I wouldn't worry about Portis going down till it happens, what if what if what if.

[LadyNRedskinsfan]

you are supposed to "what if" in the offseason E8....you didnt know? :D

[ArRiNgToN_56]

I hate to be a negative nancy here, but what will we do if Clinton Portis goes down? Nobody can deny that he had issues with his durability in Denver. If Portis plays all sixteen games, I know we will be a playoff caliber team. But if he does go down, do you think Joe Gibbs can win with Ladell "fragile" Betts or Rock "sub 5-8" Carwright???

Why are we even talking about this? What if a UFO abducted Coles half way throught the season?

[hail2skins]

Are you serious? Do you think Betts and Cartiwright can handle the running if Portis goes down?

Yes, I think they can handle the job. Last year everyone liked Betts and Rock proved that he can handle the job. This year we have Portis and if he goes down, some feel our season is over. I don't feel that way. So yes, I am serious. Portis has to prove himself as well. Can he succeed in Gibb's system like he succeeded in Denver? Only time will tell.

[LadyNRedskinsfan]

i too, think that rock and betts, along with morton can handle the RB duties for portis if he was to go down. i rather not even think about that right now though. :(

[Dexter72]

I'm interested to see how Sultan does in camp, he certainly was the surprise star of last year's. But I'd probably guess you'll see Betts and Morton splitting carries...hopefully only in mop up duty.

[bantu]

This has been on my mind too much lately.... I don't know why i keep thinking about it. If Portis went down, yikes, that would be a huge blow. Its not that the others aren't capable, its just opponents are gonna' be a lot more confident and aggresive if Portis goes down.

..... all right, lets not think bad thoughts........

[CowboyKilla]

Let Betts and the Rock work it out. Remember we have contingency plan after contingency plan. This year unlike all others we have great coaching on both sides of the ball. This will keep us in the race all year baby. Don't worry the world would not end. But it would suck a while. You Jinx.

[JoeDaSchmoe]

Honestly, I'd have faith in Rock to do a damn good job playing a few games while Portis was out. I'd have the same faith in Betts if he managed to stay healthy. When I watch either of them run, they usually read their blocks well, make good cuts, plow through arm tackles, and keep their feet moving (especially Rock). Should Portis need to spend a couple weeks on the sidelines, I wouldn't worry much.

[SonnyandSam]

What makes you think Clinton Portis is "fragile". The guy plays 29 out of 32 regular season games; misses two because of injury and one because of a Coach's decision to rest him before the playoffs. Word from Denver sources is Portis could have played one of the games he missed for injury but they had no need for him to play to make the playoffs. He carried the ball 563 times over two regular seasons. He played in the only playoff game Denver was in.

A running back sprains his knee (OH MY GOD....that never happens to a running back) and misses two games but which could have been one game and people call him "FRAGILE". )

Get a grip guys.....yeah, if CP goes down, it's not good for our offense.....it's not good for Miami to lose Ricky Williams either or Philly to lose McNabb or Dallas to lose.....shit they got no one to lose to be worse on offense. But we do have two very good quarterbacks with plenty of receiver depth, plus two decent young running backs.

I prefer to ask the question, what's going to happen if Clinton Portis carries 300 times and gets 1,800 yards....good things, man.....good things.... Let's think positive!

[frenchskinsfan]

Two young and unproven RB's ain't two "unable to run" RB's. How can you say before the season begins that these two backups won't be able to effectively replace an eventually injured Portis ? IMHO, they are as reliable as a good backup can be. Every NFL team will have its share of injured starters, if it comes to the redskins running game, I'm not worrying too much, I know the coaches already made up plans and schemes to overcome this possibility, and use as best as possible the available backups, Ladell and Rock...And the others battling for these spots will defenitely be ready, and they shouldn't be disapointing.

[IowaSkinsFan]

If Portis goes down, maybe we don't average 5.5 a carry, but with Bugel coaching th O line and Joe calling the plays, I can guarantee that we will still run the ball.

[CarMike]

For me, its hard to tell right now. Betts really hasn't had the chance to run the ball consistantly during his career. He's always had to share the back field with another RB.

I hope he doesn't have to become the main RB this year. But you never know.

[flave1969]

What makes you think Clinton Portis is "fragile". The guy plays 29 out of 32 regular season games; misses two because of injury and one because of a Coach's decision to rest him before the playoffs. Word from Denver sources is Portis could have played one of the games he missed for injury but they had no need for him to play to make the playoffs. He carried the ball 563 times over two regular seasons. He played in the only playoff game Denver was in.

A running back sprains his knee (OH MY GOD....that never happens to a running back) and misses two games but which could have been one game and people call him "FRAGILE". )

Get a grip guys.....yeah, if CP goes down, it's not good for our offense.....it's not good for Miami to lose Ricky Williams either or Philly to lose McNabb or Dallas to lose.....shit they got no one to lose to be worse on offense. But we do have two very good quarterbacks with plenty of receiver depth, plus two decent young running backs.

I prefer to ask the question, what's going to happen if Clinton Portis carries 300 times and gets 1,800 yards....good things, man.....good things.... Let's think positive!

Excellent post.

Guys this is football. Very few teams in the league have two or three regular 100 YPG rushers. San Francisco had the best 1-2 in terms of yards with Barlow and Hearst, look what it did for them. I remind you at this time that New England won the Superbowl with Antowain Smith, he had 642yards in the regular season.Why did they win, Good D and a good QB/short passing game. Basically they had other weapons. We have two good proven QB's, great depth at WR, a nice mix of H/B, blocking TE and receiving TE, nice change of pace backs and great coaching. This team is loaded with weapons.

On top of that as LavarPA stated, Portis played 29 of 32 games, actually only started 25( I guess he won the starters job by Week 5 of his rookie year).
As stated he was rested for the playoffs by Shanahan, so we are talking two games here. Lets relax. In Football we all know that injuries play a big part, but look around the league and see if you can find many teams that can afford to lose their starting RB, there are not many.

Lets look at our division.
Dallas has Troy Hambrick and Eddie George. On the face of it this is not bad. none of us rate Hambrick and George is on the decline. They average between them 3.4 per carry. If we can hold them to this average when we play them we have a good shot at winning.

Philly has Buckhalter and Westbrook. Both dangerous players, combined they have nice stats. But ask yourself this why did Reid constantly change between Buckhalter, Westbrook and Staley, two reasons. Firstly he knew he did not have a consistent every down back, so he kept it fresh. It worked for them and I think they will be tough. But there is no more Staley, so if you lose one of the other two guys. Will they have a back to consistently carry the load?

The Giants have Tiki Barber, there next rusher had 197 yards. If they lose Barber they are done for. They wont be able to rely on Ron Dayne to carry the load.

You see all the teams face the same problems, you hope it wont happen too us, but we are in as good a position as anyone in our division.

[redwolf1218]

This has been on my mind too much lately.... I don't know why i keep thinking about it. If Portis went down, yikes, that would be a huge blow. Its not that the others aren't capable, its just opponents are gonna' be a lot more confident and aggresive if Portis goes down.

..... all right, lets not think bad thoughts........
this is what i was thinking. how would you gameplan defensively against the skins with portis in the game, and then, without portis and, say....Rock. with portis you better keep someone back, or he can take it the distance, with either a run or a screen pass, and you better have someone in the game to cover him if he goes out, because he caught a lot of balls in denver and he has blazing speed...with the slower Rock, you can just pile 8 in the box. he might get 2 or 3 up the middle but he's not going anywhere. if he goes out for a pass, a linebacker or safety could easily shut him down. portis could be for us what marshall faulk is for the Rams, for example. Betts and Rock would change the gameplan on both sides of the ball.

[flave1969]

The difference this year, is that if you do pile eight guys in the box if Rock is in the backfield. Firstly, we will have better blocking. Do you really think Joe Gibbs will run a scheme where only the lineman block. We will have TE/HB running intelligent pass routes, men in the slot. The RB is not the only man in a Joe Gibbs offense. If teams continually stack up with eight in the box, they will get burned. The thing that pleases me is we are no longer one dimensional, if we do lose Clinton we are not just stuck with Betts or Rock. we are stuck with Betts,Rock and on offense in the hands of Joe Gibbs.

[Patrick]

If PORTIS goes down ...... I guess we'd start talking about next year's draft sooner.

No seriously, it's really not the end of the world because I'd think that Gibbs&Co would not have an offense that would rely on one person availibility. Injuries will happen and you better have a "Plan B & C". IF MB is our QB, then hope he's still has some life left in those legs, use the H-back scheme more, focus on the passing game, and hope one of the backups can give you some production.

[Redblood]

morton is 5'-8 and 203. he had 4.5 yards per carry. rock is 5'-7 and 223 with 3.8 yds/carry. betts is 5'-10 and 222 with 3.3 yds/carry. morton might be the best option. betts should have done better than 3.3 per carry. rock was in on a lot of short yardage stuff so i can better understand him having a low average.

All of that without HOF Coach Gibbs! Just think what this offense will do with "real" blocking schemes, and a HOF Coach who knows how to game plan AND adjust his game plan when needed. I for one, will not worry.

[skins111111]

if he goes down we just keep on keepin on.........with the protection scheems Gibbs has we will still have an air game thus spreading the "D" and opening up the ground game for Rock and Betts.......plus we still have Morton and Sultan
...........loosing Portis would be the worst injury we could possibly have but we would still be able to but big #s on the board.
WE HAVE AN AWSOME TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tommahawk]

Because of the salary cap teams can only afford one star running back with unproven backups. I believe in our backups they will do. I just hope Betts takes the criticism and turns it into something good. I remember Steven Davis went down too easy and was often injured, so I was down on him. Then Westbrooke Knocked him out in TC and I thought he'd be gone for sure. It ended up being his breakout year. I don't want Betts to have a breakout year though. I want Portis to have an all-pro year.

[GolfFreak]

I didn't read all the prior posts, but I think we have plenty of weapons that if we lose Portis then we'll be OK. While the others are not as well known they are still decent players. I think our WR corps would have to step up a notch or two to cover him.

[Avg Joe]

I actually thought that with the system and line Betts could have gotten the job done. I didn't think a RB was a necessity. I mean, before Stevie D actually got a shot at running the ball, there were question about whether he could get it done. You have to give a person ample opportunity. I think they would be fine.

[RedskinRyan]

we kick you off the board for jinxing him

ok, but seriously, i think we are fine at RB if portis goes down SHORT TERM. i dont think betts is a capable backup for an extended amount of time. but is kenny watson still available? we should try to get ihm back if we can. i still like rock and morton though.

[redwolf1218]

All of that without HOF Coach Gibbs! Just think what this offense will do with "real" blocking schemes, and a HOF Coach who knows how to game plan AND adjust his game plan when needed. I for one, will not worry.
you said "all of that"...but really my point was, it's not much, except for morton's average looked pretty good. his durability is suspect though. i think we'll do fine, it's just that without portis, the defenses will play us completely different IMO. the play action fake with portis should freeze everyone, and his speed, pass catching ability and yards per carry average must be respected. i see similar qualities in morton, but not in anyone else on the roster. not yet anyway. i keep thinking, or hoping, that betts is better than we've seen.

[ConradCountry]

Pound the ROCK