Portis to debut Saturday for Redskins

Noted preseason enthusiast Clinton Portis will be in the Washington Redskins' lineup Saturday against Pittsburgh after sitting out last week's loss to Baltimore.

Although he may play less than a quarter, Portis usually loathes any August carries.

"Why would I not be [excited]? Don't I look ecstatic?" he said after practice Monday. "I'm good. I'll be in there this weekend."

In his first five years with the Redskins, Portis has 47 preseason carries, including one in 2006 (injured against Cincinnati) and zero in 2007 (knee tendinitis). He had 15 attempts last year.

Coach Jim Zorn would not speculate on how many carries Portis will get. Marcus Mason and Dominique Dorsey are expected to get the bulk of the work.

Portis has stayed healthy during training camp and taken part in 20 of the 21 full-squad practices.

"When he's participated, he's been awesome," Zorn said. "He's worked hard, he's run hard and he's learning as well. This is the part of camp [when] he gets himself game ready. As we get closer, he'll pick up his pace and we'll get him more and more reps. For the stuff we've asked Clinton to do and the stuff Clinton has done, I'm pleased."
Portis said the offense can take a step forward if it eliminates self-inflicted errors.

"Our No. 1 thing is just to focus," he said. "After watching the Baltimore film, we had a lot of mental mistakes and we have to cut that out. Of course we need to score more points and we want to come out of these games with wins, but at the same time you need to see progress."



(washigtontimes.com)