So Clinton Portis obviously
had some interesting things to say in the story we
ran in this morning's paper. That wasn't all he
said, though. He was in a very talkative mood.
Here is some other free-flowing stuff from your
favorite tailback, some Portis out-takes:
How have you changed as a person and a back since you
came to Washington?:
"As a back, I've changed to basically doing what's
asked of me," Portis said. "Coming in here, being used
to daylight and big runs and high expectations, and
feeling prepared to change the organization around and
carry the organization, and all of a sudden it didn't
work that way, for whatever reason, and all of a sudden
you have to take that criticism. Of course you become
blamed, but at the same time, I felt like I put in the
work. It wasn't like I didn't show up for work. You
look back over every game I've played in since I've
been here, whether I had the yards or not, you can't
sit here and tell me I didn't give you everything I had
on the field.
"I think I was running into some brick walls. I ran
into some of them full speed. It wasn't like I laid
down and all of a sudden, 'No, I can't do this.' I
tried. I think trying and always giving all the maximum
effort that I can give, you're going to take your
criticism and everybody's going to be hard, and all of
a sudden you don't do this, you don't do that.
"But my status as far as consistency in the NFL, I've
accomplished something that is not easily accomplished.
With the exception of the year that I got hurt, all of
my campaigns been fine years for another back. For a
Marion Barber, that would be great. But for Clinton
Portis, it's sub-par. I think it's just unfair , uh I
really think it's unfair to have hard work overlooked
due to circumstances.
"Since I've been here we haven't played with the line
that was expected for us to have. We've lost Randy
Thomas and Jon Jansen, or had makeshift [lines], had to
plug in this lineman or get somebody last-minute. We've
always shuffled our line-up, shuffled our quarterbacks.
We really haven't had the same starting receivers. So
as far as constant, I've been the only constant in the
Washington Redskins, along with Chris Samuels and Chris
Cooley. Other than that, everything else has been
shuffled."
Here, he took a breath. One question, more than three
minutes, 30 seconds. I asked him if it was fair or
unfair that people get caught up in the numbers, the
stats. He said some of the things that were in the
story -- that sometimes 80 yards can be the toughest 80
yards possible. He went on:
"It's part of the game. It's being involved in the
game. When your role changed, and you're used to
hitting home runs, home runs, and they ask you to
become a singles hitter, and you want to slap it out of
the park, what do you say? 'No, I'm a home run hitter.'
Or do you do what they ask you do to for the team? They
want me to hit home runs, but every now and then you
got to get a single, get on base first. Then we get a
home run, or try and help someone else drive you in. So
knowing the role reversal, of course we all want home
runs, but I'm not going to say I didn't miss some
opportunities over the last five, six years to have a
home run. But [shoot], it was hard to come by those
opportunities. And all of a sudden it'd pop up, and you
miss it. That one time that you miss it, it don't come
back."
Keep in mind, too, that Portis never said he wanted to
be traded. He just said he thought it'd be interesting
if he could run behind a different line with different
players around him for one week to see what the results
would be. Because he said that, I asked him whether he
wished he hadn't been traded from Denver, which is
renowned for its consistent offensive line play. He
said flatly no, and there's a quote about that in the
story. But he was more expansive.
"I think being here made me appreciate having Shannon
Sharpe or Rod Smith or Ed McCaffrey as a teammate, or
being able to watch an Al Wilson go out and play
football -- people who really love the game and played
the game the way it was supposed to be played. And then
all of a sudden you come and you ask to be the leader,
you ask to be the focal point, you ask to take the hits
and be the person that everything going to always fall
down to you. So I always said it's not about, well, as
the focal point, you asked to lead, you asked to carry,
you asked to guide newcomers. You asked to pull in a
Devin Thomas and try to get him on the right road, to
guide a Marcus Mason, who got all the talent in the
world, to teach him how to become a complete back, to
understand it's more than running the ball."
He also said that he believes these Redskins have more
talent than he played with during his two seasons in
Denver. And he also showed a bit of a chip on his
shoulder.
"People don't want to see me do good. Everybody wants
[to say], 'Oh, he's getting paid too much and not
producing. He ain't went to the Pro Bowl. He ain't
[this or that]. Well, as an organization, we only had
three people go to the Pro Bowl.
"If you really pay attention and watch us play, there's
a lot of us should have been in the Pro Bowl because we
played hard. We played football the way it's supposed
to be played. You can't tell me London Fletcher
shouldn't have been in the Pro Bowl. Three middle
linebackers better than London Fletcher? Or a Sean
Taylor over his career. There was another safety better
than him? Or LaRon Landry coming up? You telling me
there's four safeties in the NFL better than him? No.
"I would be a fool to believe that. For myself, yeah,
other people had wonder years. But the consistency,
every year, you know what I'm going to give you. It's
not going to be a major dropoff. I'm going to give you
what I got, every year. No matter what our record is,
I'm going to be that constant."
Last thing (though we could probably go on forever): I
pointed out that his contract is through 2010,
essentially three more seasons. I asked him if he
embraced that or he was frustrated about it (given what
he had said earlier). He gets to some interesting stuff
about leadership and team dynamics.
"I'm past the frustration point," Portis said, "because
in frustration, you can't go out and make others do
something. I can only do my job. And you know, I think
within the organization, they can see I do my job. I
can't control other people's jobs. This team, with the
talent we have -- we never had this kind of talent in
Denver. So the talent that we have here is phenomenal.
"When I was in Denver, there was three players getting
a lot of money -- Brian Griese, Trevor Pryce, John
Mobley. But you come to this organization, you got six
of the highest-paid players on offense. You got five of
the highest-paid players on defense. So it's kind of
hard when you got 11 players making that much money,
and then you got a guy such as James Thrash or Rock
Cartwright not making that kind of money who's really
the leaders of this team.
"I would love to feel and say I'm the leader of the
Washington Redskins. On Sunday, I am. On a day-to-day,
Monday-to-Saturday [basis], I'm not, because Rock
Cartwright work harder than I do, James Thrash work
harder than I do, David Patten -- who's now with the
New Orleans Saints -- worked harder than I did. Santana
Moss worked harder than I do. Chris Cooley ain't never
missed a practice since I been here. [Note: He was
speaking Wednesday, before Cooley had to miss that
day's practice.] So do I say, 'Put me in the front and
let me lead?' On Sunday, yeah, I say that, because
there's not one of those guys who I feel work harder
than me. But on Monday through Saturday, when the
leadership role is really requested, I'm not. That's
not me."
(washingtonpost.com)