Portis: No need for Snyder to apologize

As far as running back Clinton Portis is concerned, owner Daniel Snyder didn't need to apologize to fans Tuesday. But maybe the players do.

"It didn't take him to speak. We know we're a disappointment. I hear people [say], 'You just gotta hear it out of somebody else's mouth.' We know we haven't played up to par. It didn't take Mr. Snyder to step up and say, 'We apologize,'" Portis said. "We'll apologize to our fans. We'll apologize to our coaches. It's us. We got to play up to par. We can't put that on him.

"Him saying he apologized won't make our record better than 2-5 or make people forgive us for being 2-5 or make everyone say, 'We're coming to the game. He apologized.'"

Quarterback Jason Campbell said he hadn't heard Snyder's apology to fans. But he was asked whether fan frustration is more intense than past years and responded, "Obviously."

"You can hear it; you can see it," he said. "And we're frustrated also."

Receiver Santana Moss said fans who turn their back on the team, "To me, that's not a real fan.

"For the ones that's truly behind us, you feel sorry and we are ashamed," Moss said. "But to the ones that's not, we're still ashamed. But there's nothing we can do about what you're letting out to us with your anger and signs and whatever else you got going."

Portis also used his media availability Wednesday to clarify his relationship with Snyder. The joke around Redskins Park is that Joe Gibbs used to call Portis an assistant general manager.

"Our relationship has been under so much scrutiny, and everyone think I get my own way and that I run to Mr. Snyder. I don't," Portis said. "I have a working relationship with Mr. Snyder. ...I think it's a great thing when you can go into work and speak to your boss. I've never had a 9-to-5, but I'm sure in the regular world, you speak to your boss when you go to work.

"So many people feel that I'm in charge and so many people [are] so worried about our relationship. I don't think our relationship is nothing major. I think we speak, we talk, we laugh, we joke and so on. I've never spent the night at his house or did anything special. It's just a cool relationship.

"But because I'm under so much scrutiny everyone thinks I have so much power. I kind of keep my distance. I speak and keep it moving. There's so much ill will toward me or what I'm doing. Not knowing, people always assume, 'How did Clinton get out of this?' It's not Clinton trying to get out of anything or being an [butt] kisser or running to Mr. Snyder. But I think I go out and bust my butt on the field, and he appreciates that."



(washigtonpost.com)