Run the Ball...Please?

[BigCountry]

Why waas the coaching so persistant on passing the ball today? Portis was having a very good game but it seemed as if everytime he got going Gibbs followed it up with a couple of pass plays that most of the time didn't work. There's absolutely no excuse for not giving Portis the ball at least 30 times today. It was the only thing we were doing right on offense and doing it very well at that but Portis was abandoned by the playcalling. I know he fumbled twice but when you're down to 3 recievers on your entire roster and you'r running game is working, why not stick with it?

[Redskinfan28]

Portis would have fumbled 4 times if he had 30 carries. :banghead:

[MWballer]

Portis would have fumbled 4 times if he had 30 carries. :banghead:

:lol1: atleast our rushing attack is looking much better nowadays. TOs killed us as usual. Same old song when is this team gonna learn. Portis shouldve gotten more carries though in this type of game.

[jporterweb]

I didn't see the game... how much of those fumbles was bad ball handling, and how much was just good hits and play by their defense?

[redwolf1218]

The Raiders' defense held Washington to 28 yards in the fourth quarter. The two quarterbacks' fourth-quarter numbers tell the story: Collins was 9-for-12 while Mark Brunell went 2-for-11.

that stat speaks volumes. we always abandon the run. i dont know why. and we cant get pressure. and now it also seems we cant protect.

i dont know why we abandon the run.

[superskin]

It will be interesting to see what Portis does Thursday with his weekly press conference. With the team now 5-5 and him coming off of a two fumble performance, he would be well advised to cut the "sheriff" and "dollar bill" characters and do a little soul searching.

I think its cool that he was having fun with it all, but I think its time to throw that crap out the window and get back to football.

[Santheb]

It will be interesting to see what Portis does Thursday with his weekly press conference. With the team now 5-5 and him coming off of a two fumble performance, he would be well advised to cut the "sheriff" and "dollar bill" characters and do a little soul searching.

I think its cool that he was having fun with it all, but I think its time to throw that crap out the window and get back to football.

Uh..I don't see what that has to do with playing football. Thats him having fun. It has no correlation to what he does on the field.

[Chief Seeway]

It will be interesting to see what Portis does Thursday with his weekly press conference. With the team now 5-5 and him coming off of a two fumble performance, he would be well advised to cut the "sheriff" and "dollar bill" characters and do a little soul searching.

I think its cool that he was having fun with it all, but I think its time to throw that crap out the window and get back to football.

Thank you superskin! You're bravery is beyond reproach.

I nominate this for post of the year!!!

The only prop he needs this week is a football securely tucked away.

[Dolla Bill]

Uh..I don't see what that has to do with playing football. Thats him having fun. It has no correlation to what he does on the field.


If he could concentrate more on the game instead of creating alternate personas, then maybe he wouldn't create lapses and fumble the ball. It comes down to concentration. Whether or not it would help, he needs to set an example and get back to the basics.

[redwolf1218]

I didn't see the game... how much of those fumbles was bad ball handling, and how much was just good hits and play by their defense?
what i saw was bad ball handling. the first play of the game Cooley fumbled over by the sidelines, holding the ball in the wrong hand (facing the field) and he didnt cover it up with both arms when he was about to get hit.

Portis fumbles in a crowd trying to get another yard, but i'm tired of seeing him stuck in a crowded pile of players to begin with. that is not his strength, and he does so well out in space. he has great moves and speed, but i figure if you want a guy to move a pile, well, then use Nemo. that's kinda what happened back with Riggo and Joe Washington. Little Joe wasnt expected to move a pile, but he was great at what he did.

i'm just thinking out loud, but i'm so sick of all these fumbles. i dont know what the answer is.

[Chief Seeway]

Uh..I don't see what that has to do with playing football. Thats him having fun. It has no correlation to what he does on the field.

Like SS posted, it's cute and fun for the fans and media to talk about but it really boils down to a load of crap.

[The Skinsinator]

Brunell didn't have a good game at all and was clearly outplayed by Collins in the 2nd half. Combine that with Portis fumbling and boom, we lose a game we really needed to win. Maybe, we were all wrong about Patten and he really was needed. Jacobs wasn't effective and looked unconfident out there. Anyway, I'm too down to type anymore.

[Dolla Bill]

Maybe Gibbs was hoping that they would stack the line more during the 2nd half, and then open it up and hit deep targets. Problem is, that it was like they had a spy on the sideline, telling them what the play was. Everytime there was max protection, they nearly all dropped back into coverage. When we sent all out, they blitzed and the OL could not deal with it. Gibbs and co., need to figure out who is really running the offense. I heard the commentators say that it was about a 3 man operation. That is ridiculous.

[hail2skins]

I don't understand how this game can be blamed on Portis and what he does during an interview the during. You all must think he spends most of his time trying to figure out what character he will. I'll say just this, you're not out there playing so you don't know. Maybe if you were out there you'd see differently; I don't know. Having said that, those fumbles are not excusable.

This team needs turns the ball over way too much. It has plagued us all season long and will probably continue since it hasn't been corrected at this point. Something has to happen.

[whitskins]

I don't understand how this game can be blamed on Portis and what he does during an interview the during. You all must think he spends most of his time trying to figure out what character he will. I'll say just this, you're not out there playing so you don't know. Maybe if you were out there you'd see differently; I don't know. Having said that, those fumbles are not excusable.

This team needs turns the ball over way too much. It has plagued us all season long and will probably continue since it hasn't been corrected at this point. Something has to happen.

It's not just the fact that we turn the ball over that is so upsetting, it's that we have different culprits turning it over each week. One week it's a return guy fumbling, another week Brunell is running with the ball hanging out, another week an O-lineman gets toasted and Brunell gets hit from the blindside, another week it's interceptions, then our receivers start fumbling, then this week the only person on the team who hasn't turned the ball over once all year, Portis, loses two fumbles in one game...

It's unbelievable and I don't know how to explain it.

[Skinsguy1]

Portis hadn't lost a fumble in like nine games or somethin, so I don't think that "Dollar Bill" was at all the reason he fumbled the ball. If he was a player that didn't block on passing plays, hustle after other player's fumbles, and whine about giving Ladell Betts carries, THEN I would question his thursday afternoon personas

[MONK_in_HOF]

What was the point of continually trying to force the ball deep to Jacobs? It didn't work 1 time. They didn't even really come close. I was wondering what happened to the run.

[Santheb]

I don't understand how this game can be blamed on Portis and what he does during an interview the during. You all must think he spends most of his time trying to figure out what character he will. I'll say just this, you're not out there playing so you don't know. Maybe if you were out there you'd see differently; I don't know. Having said that, those fumbles are not excusable.


Thank you, thats what I was trying to say. I don't think he sits in a room from Monday up until the time of the interview thinking "What will I do this week?" He probably comes up with that sutff on the spot, or hell, at least during his free time.

I'd rather see those characters that he has during an interview rather than the generic "We need to try harder." "We need to close games out." "I think <so and so> is a great player." "The <opposing team> will be a tough game, but we can pull it out."

Clinton is just being Clinton during those interviews, and if you don't like watching a guy have fun, then don't. Nobody is forcing you to watch.

[HAWGZHEAD]

I didn't see the game... how much of those fumbles was bad ball handling, and how much was just good hits and play by their defense?The first fumble was tough, he got held up by the D allowing 4 or 5 people to swat at the ball. To tell you the truth I can't remember what happened on the second.

[BIGSEF3]

Why waas the coaching so persistant on passing the ball today? Portis was having a very good game but it seemed as if everytime he got going Gibbs followed it up with a couple of pass plays that most of the time didn't work. There's absolutely no excuse for not giving Portis the ball at least 30 times today. It was the only thing we were doing right on offense and doing it very well at that but Portis was abandoned by the playcalling. I know he fumbled twice but when you're down to 3 recievers on your entire roster and you'r running game is working, why not stick with it?

uhhh, we ran the ball WAY too much. we have had tons of success with screen passes all season, but gibbs didnt do many, if any screens today. that is why we lost the game. gibbs did a terrible job at playcalling.

[skins74]

I don't understand why we didn't run the ball more either. We were doing well in that area. Regarding fumbles they happen I don't think his weekly costumes have anything to do with it.

[Santheb]

I don't understand why we didn't run the ball more either. We were doing well in that area. Regarding fumbles they happen I don't think his weekly costumes have anything to do with it.

/sarcasm on

They have EVERYTHING to do with it! He's not concentrating on the game!

/sarcasm off

It has absolutely nothing to do with it, lol.

[skins74]

:lol1: /sarcasm on

They have EVERYTHING to do with it! He's not concentrating on the game!

/sarcasm off

It has absolutely nothing to do with it, lol.



:lol1:

[whitskins]

uhhh, we ran the ball WAY too much. we have had tons of success with screen passes all season, but gibbs didnt do many, if any screens today. that is why we lost the game. gibbs did a terrible job at playcalling.

Wow, another BigSef classic, Portis had 70+ yards at halftime and finished with 92 for the game because we clearly abandoned the run in the second half. You saw all those drives in the 4th quarter that all ended on 3 and out on three straight passes right?

We lost the games because we didn't run enough screens? I don't really get that one, I think a big reason we might have lost is because Portis had 17 carries in the first half and FIVE in the second, when we were winning or tied for all but one minute of the half. But we ran the ball WAY too much?

[redwolf1218]

Wow, another BigSef classic, Portis had 70+ yards at halftime and finished with 92 for the game because we clearly abandoned the run in the second half. You saw all those drives in the 4th quarter that all ended on 3 and out on three straight passes right?

We lost the games because we didn't run enough screens? I don't really get that one, I think a big reason we might have lost is because Portis had 17 carries in the first half and FIVE in the second, when we were winning or tied for all but one minute of the half. But we ran the ball WAY too much?
i dont understand why we always abandon the run. heck, the run was working great and we still abandoned it. i would rather see us not abandon it even if it wasnt working great.

[skins74]

i dont understand why we always abandon the run. heck, the run was working great and we still abandoned it. i would rather see us not abandon it even if it wasnt working great.


Most of the time we don't even establish the run. Which I thought was Gibbs trademark. I think it must mean the offensive line can't get it done.

[redwolf1218]

Most of the time we don't even establish the run. Which I thought was Gibbs trademark. I think it must mean the offensive line can't get it done.
there are so many variables involved in it. with the run, the o-line gets to push people rather than backpedal. the clock runs, the defense rests. i would run it even if it wasnt working. you never know when you might break one, but we abandon the run even when it is working. today Portis had a great first half, but then we went away from it for some reason.

[whitskins]

there are so many variables involved in it. with the run, the o-line gets to push people rather than backpedal. the clock runs, the defense rests. i would run it even if it wasnt working. you never know when you might break one, but we abandon the run even when it is working. today Portis had a great first half, but then we went away from it for some reason.

It was particularly baffling today because the run game was the only aspect of the offense that was working with any consistency. The only thing I can think of are Portis' fumbles but not even that makes enough sense to me.

[superskin]

I don't understand how this game can be blamed on Portis and what he does during an interview the during. You all must think he spends most of his time trying to figure out what character he will. I'll say just this, you're not out there playing so you don't know. Maybe if you were out there you'd see differently; I don't know.

Just for the record, I don't think that Portis's interviews somehow contributed to his fumbles today. The reason he should drop the whole character shananigan - at least for this week - is because we are a 5-5 team that has lost 5 of their last 7 games. I have a great character for Clinton to show up as on Thursday - Clinton Portis. Come out with no costume, say "my bad" for the fumbles, and announce to the media that the "Sheriff" and "Dollar Bill" are on a hiatus while this team focuses on beating the Chargers and climbing back into the division race. What a great message it would send - that this team is still focused and not letting things slip away.

[Ibleedburgundy]

Why waas the coaching so persistant on passing the ball today? Portis was having a very good game but it seemed as if everytime he got going Gibbs followed it up with a couple of pass plays that most of the time didn't work. There's absolutely no excuse for not giving Portis the ball at least 30 times today. It was the only thing we were doing right on offense and doing it very well at that but Portis was abandoned by the playcalling. I know he fumbled twice but when you're down to 3 recievers on your entire roster and you'r running game is working, why not stick with it?


Agreed 1,000%. I was saying the same thing during the game. My brother didn't agree but what else is new? The running game was pretty good today. The passing game was miserable. Portis has shown that he wants to take this team on his shoulders. He played his butt off against Tampa. I like the fire he brings. GIVE CP THE BALL!!!

I want to see 25 or more carries next week for CP.

[skins74]

Cooley and Portis were both doing well in the first half so I really don't understand why we went away from them in the 2nd. Milk them until the defense is keyed in on them and that is when you throw it to Santana.

[Keino]

It will be interesting to see what Portis does Thursday with his weekly press conference. With the team now 5-5 and him coming off of a two fumble performance, he would be well advised to cut the "sheriff" and "dollar bill" characters and do a little soul searching.

I think its cool that he was having fun with it all, but I think its time to throw that crap out the window and get back to football.

I agree 100%

[Keino]

Just for the record, I don't think that Portis's interviews somehow contributed to his fumbles today. The reason he should drop the whole character shananigan - at least for this week - is because we are a 5-5 team that has lost 5 of their last 7 games. I have a great character for Clinton to show up as on Thursday - Clinton Portis. Come out with no costume, say "my bad" for the fumbles, and announce to the media that the "Sheriff" and "Dollar Bill" are on a hiatus while this team focuses on beating the Chargers and climbing back into the division race. What a great message it would send - that this team is still focused and not letting things slip away.

And I agree with this 10000%

[PennSkinsFan]

And I agree with this 10000%

Yup. Turnovers are simply killing this team and Clinton portis was the cause this week. Knock it off and take the job seriously!

[wewantdallas]

Just for the record, I don't think that Portis's interviews somehow contributed to his fumbles today. The reason he should drop the whole character shananigan - at least for this week - is because we are a 5-5 team that has lost 5 of their last 7 games. I have a great character for Clinton to show up as on Thursday - Clinton Portis. Come out with no costume, say "my bad" for the fumbles, and announce to the media that the "Sheriff" and "Dollar Bill" are on a hiatus while this team focuses on beating the Chargers and climbing back into the division race. What a great message it would send - that this team is still focused and not letting things slip away.

Beautifully put, SuperSkin!

You guys defending the press conference thing are missing the point. No one's suggesting that this is causing the fumbles or resulting in bad play.

But as SS says, when you lose 5 out of your last 7 and you PERSONALLY fumble twice, with each one resulting in points gained or lost, you don't come out on Thursday dressed like a buffoon. I've enjoyed his press conferences as much as the next guy, but I'm NOT IN THE MOOD for it this week.

This team is pissing me off, and they need to get serious and kick someone's butt for a change. People always point back to Riggins as doing similar things. Well, guess what, Riggins knew when and when NOT to engage in this kind of thing. When the playoffs came around, was he giving stupid press conferences? No, he was IN JOE GIBBS' OFFICE SAYING "GIVE ME THE BALL."

THAT IS WHAT I WANT FROM CLINTON PORTIS this week. Some leadership for a change.

[Skinz4lyfe]

I agree w/the masses in saying that we abandoned the run way too early. We weren't successful passing the ball so why do that when clearly we were successful running. We had Sapp and Washington sucking wind after the 1st half. I say if we continued running the ball then we would have tired them out and they would have had to put 8 in the box to stop us. After they did that then you can go deep. Simple as that. And by the way, we can't do any WR screens when the CBs are playing up on the line like they were all day long. That's why we only ran 1 all game.

Also, regarding CPs weekly costumes: Personally I like them but I do agree w/SuperSkin's second post in saying that maybe he should cut the act this week in light of his fumbles and more importantly the teams' performance. But I stand on record of saying that this act has no bearing whatsoever in Portis' performance or preparation for his opponents. He is one of Gibbs' favorite players because of his heart and dedication to the game. So to insinuate that his weekly "alter egos" have anything to do w/that is completely absurd.