An Ode To Clinton
Clinton Portis has played his last game as a Washington Redskin. It’s not official…and I guess you can speculate that he’ll be back next season (he is under contract,) but it’s over Johnny. The burst is gone, he’s now overpaid and the younger guys who have replaced him are playing at a higher level.
Now the question becomes, what will Clinton’s legacy be? Was he a selfish player and locker room cancer? Was he a selfless player that carried the team on his back at times? Is it arguable that he was the Redskin’s greatest running back ever?
I’m conflicted on the selfish/selfless thing. On one hand he played hurt, picked up blitzes as good as any RB in the league and absolutely carried the Skins to playoff appearances in 05’ and 07’. I also saw a player who raised his hand to come out of games on many key occasions and who called out his fellow teammates on various occasions.
Clinton’s Redskin Resume:
He owns 4 out of the top 10 single season rushing yardage totals (#1, 2, 8, 10.)
He owns 4 out of the top 10 single season carries totals (#3, 5, 6, 10.)
#2 all-time in rushing yards.
#2 all-time in carries.
#3 all-time in TD’s.
In the last 5 games of the 05’ season (all wins,) Portis rushed for 583 yards and 6 TD’s. He was over 100+ yards in every game and averaged 26 carries per game.
So, what was Clinton Portis to me? He was one of my favorite players. I know people think he was a prima donna and perhaps he had some of those traits. I’ll choose to remember him as the player in the last 5 games of 05’, or the player from the first 8 games of 08’. I’ll remember the guy who blew up opposing linebackers who came up the middle on blitzes.
I’ll remember the guy who ran nearly 50 yards downfield in a pre-season game to deliver a bone crushing hit on a defender who intercepted Brunnell. Portis separated his shoulder tackling that guy in a pre-season game.
And that’s the kind of guy I want playing for the burgundy and gold.
Cheers and Hail
9/1 Happy Bday Clinton Portis
Happy birthday Clinton Portis. How can you not love Clinton Portis? Have you watched the way the guy plays the game? He put on 20 lbs to run between the tackles for Gibbs. He blows up any and all blitzing defenders…linebackers and d-linemen included. He plays hurt. Clinton is the key to the Redskins offense, as noted by the Skins 21-4 record when he rushes for 100+ yards. He was obtained from the Broncos on March 4, 2004 (my 30th birthday.) The first time he touched the ball in a Redskins uniform he took it 64 yards to the house. It was Gibbs first game back in DC and I jumped up and down and just knew we were going to the Super Bowl. 5 years later…Clinton is entering the age where the naysayers claim that a running back’s best days are behind them. I’m not buying it with C.P. Last year he rushed for 1,487 yards and had 5 straight games of 120+ rushing yards. Entering the 2009 season, he’s about 800 yards away from breaking 10,000 for his career and 1,300 from becoming the Redskins all-time leading rusher. Clinton has 7,331 total yards and 45 TD’s in his 5 seasons with the Redskins (really 4.5 due to injury in 2006.) The bottom line is Clinton is a few more productive years away from being a Hall of Famer and the Redskins greatest running back ever. Happy 28th (a young 28) Mr. Portis.
You can’t stop the little man…you can only hope to contain him!
Cheers and Hail
Posted by fatpickle Date: Monday, August 31, 2009
Categories: Fatpickled, Happy Birthday!, Redskins
Tags: happy bday, little man, portis, washington redskins, youtubes
Standing on top of the World!
So, the first time I saw the Redskins 2008 schedule, my first reaction was, did Jerry Jones write this? I mean, come on, 3 divisional road games in the first 5 weeks? At Dallas, then at Philly? I originally was thinking 3-2, and I was going to be happy. After our less than stellar showing in week 1, I was going to be ok with 2-3. What they did today,had never been done in the history of the Washington Redskins. It took me about an hour and 4 beers to do the research, but no Redskins team has ever won back to back road games against Philly and Dallas. NEVER!
This team keeps amazing me. If this team were Kimbo Slice, they would have tapped out with 9 minutes to go in the first quarter. Down 14-0, momentum totally against them, crazy Philly fans fired up. The Skins picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and went to work. Slowly chipping away and letting the game come back to them. It didn’t matter that the Eagles took Tana out of the game, Portis and Cooley carried us. No turnovers again, you don’t realize how huge that is. Any offensive turnover the past 4 weeks could have resulted in a Redskins loss. Zorn showed us again today the difference between him and Gibbs. With a 4th and 1 and a little over 2 minutes to go, he went for it. And the Redskins delivered the dagger. Gibbs would have punted and put the game in Mcnabb’s hands.
Sometimes, its all worth it. All the money I’ve lost betting with my heart. All the shit talking that I’ve had to take back after the Skins lose a game they should have won. All the tears, all the yelling, all the punching holes in drywall.
Yep, sometimes its all worth it. And tonight, I’m standing on top of the world (for a little while).
Posted by fatpickle Date: Sunday, October 5, 2008
Categories: Fatpickled, Redskins
Tags: cooley, NFL, portis, van halen, washington redskins, zorn
