View Full Version : Portis Out 4-6 Weeks with Groin Injury
Don Quixote
10-06-2010, 05:45 PM
Torain'd better be up to task.... Williams up from the practice squad? Johnson or Parker brought back for "veteranosity" reasons? Who knows? It'll be an interesting next couple of days....
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5655763
allstar1579
10-06-2010, 05:55 PM
Torain'd better be up to task.... Williams up from the practice squad? Johnson or Parker brought back for "veteranosity" reasons? Who knows? It'll be an interesting next couple of days....
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=5655763
It's funny that this is exactly the reason they signed the "vets" in the offseason, and one week after they cut the other one, Portis goes down. Realistically if you've been watching, it's not going to hurt us much, Torain has had much more burst through the hole and has been faster on the edge too. We knew we needed to get younger next season, and that option was not going to be exercised anyway. Might as well get a good look at Torain before the RB shopping season begins.
DeAngelo Williams, Jamaal Charles, Ronnie Brown, and Mike Tolbert are all FA and Demarco Murray, Daniel Thomas, and Noel Devine are all in the draft.
backwardsk
10-06-2010, 07:35 PM
It's a shame that Portis went down. He looked so much better this year than he did last season. I'm glad to see Torain get his shot. Don't know if they'll bring up Williams or not. Who do you drop from the roster? Was Simpson activated last week? I don't think he was. So from an active roster perspective, I don't think much will change. Hopefully Portis comes back for the second half of the season, but this injury sounds extremely painful.
AgentOrange
10-06-2010, 07:38 PM
It's a shame that Portis went down. He looked so much better this year than he did last season. I'm glad to see Torain get his shot. Don't know if they'll bring up Williams or not. Who do you drop from the roster? Was Simpson activated last week? I don't think he was. So from an active roster perspective, I don't think much will change. Hopefully Portis comes back for the second half of the season, but this injury sounds extremely painful.
I didn't really pay attention to him last year, but is this true?
backwardsk
10-06-2010, 07:56 PM
I didn't really pay attention to him last year, but is this true?
Yes. He was pretty bad last season. He was 15-20 lbs heavier and never practiced. He rarely had holes open up for him, but the linemen hinted that if he practiced, his timing to the holes would have been much better. His season got cut short by a concussion at midseason, but he never got it going.
This season, they bring in Shanahan, Larry Johnson and Willie Parker. Portis knew he was expendable and got himself to the OTAs and dropped his weight from 230 to 213. His stats weren't good for the first 4 games, but he was playing much, much better. In the Cowboys game, he got it going in the second half, extending drives and keeping Dallas off the field. Against Houston, he scored twice at the goal line. While that shouldn't be impressive, they had soooo much trouble in short yardage situations last year. Also in that game, Fred Davis caught a pass that went for 60+ yards. About 40 yards into the catch and run, Portis raced down the field to make a pancake block to spring Davis. He caught a lot of flack for breaking a 20+ yard run against the Rams and then going to the turf untouched around the 50. He claimed he was protecting the ball (Moss had a costly fumble earlier), but it looked REALLY bad. Last week, on his first run, he delivered a hard hit on either a safety or corner on a 7 yard gain. Very physical. Later in the game, he made a nifty run after a catch that should have been for negative yardage. He looked like he had gone back in time.
Don Quixote
10-07-2010, 01:01 AM
Yes. He was pretty bad last season. He was 15-20 lbs heavier and never practiced. He rarely had holes open up for him, but the linemen hinted that if he practiced, his timing to the holes would have been much better. His season got cut short by a concussion at midseason, but he never got it going.
This season, they bring in Shanahan, Larry Johnson and Willie Parker. Portis knew he was expendable and got himself to the OTAs and dropped his weight from 230 to 213. His stats weren't good for the first 4 games, but he was playing much, much better. In the Cowboys game, he got it going in the second half, extending drives and keeping Dallas off the field. Against Houston, he scored twice at the goal line. While that shouldn't be impressive, they had soooo much trouble in short yardage situations last year. Also in that game, Fred Davis caught a pass that went for 60+ yards. About 40 yards into the catch and run, Portis raced down the field to make a pancake block to spring Davis. He caught a lot of flack for breaking a 20+ yard run against the Rams and then going to the turf untouched around the 50. He claimed he was protecting the ball (Moss had a costly fumble earlier), but it looked REALLY bad. Last week, on his first run, he delivered a hard hit on either a safety or corner on a 7 yard gain. Very physical. Later in the game, he made a nifty run after a catch that should have been for negative yardage. He looked like he had gone back in time.
That's a pretty good rundown. I got to see his performance against Dallas first-hand, but since then I haven't been able to see as much of the action. From what I had seen there had been some improvement over last season, no doubt. He seemed to get Shanahan's early, thinly veiled message that he better get things together. It's a shame that he's having another injury-impacted campaign; however, that's what pundits figured would happen after the (Bailey) trade. Despite being much (though not always deservedly) maligned, I saw a graphic either in one of the past couple of games that said since 2002 he's #2 in rushing yards and #3 in rush TDs in the entire league. Torain's been doing pretty well and glad he's getting a chance. I wonder how they'll address the depth, though, as his health prospects are a question.
As far as DeMarco Murray, he's another back questioned in that way. I wouldn't mind him being a part of the team next year if he can stay healthy, and it would be interesting seeing Trent Williams block for him again. He already has nine rush TDs (and one TD catch) plus a 110+ YPG average through five games, and had a good showing versus Texas last week, showing he isn't just excelling versus Utah State. Many projections have him in the second or third round, with the occasional first-round projection sprinkled in.
Some of the main knocks against Murray are a too-upright running style, injuries, and a lack of pile-pushing strength, although he has excellent athleticism and adds other facets with good open-field movement and route running plus kick returning ability (although Bob Stoops had him lay off returns starting in 2009 due to an injury he suffered on special teams the previous season). If he can get the stats for this year to pile up, and emerge unscathed, his stock could rise quite a bit; even if it doesn't, he could be a real steal if the Redskins take the popularly projected move of taking a WR with the first-round selection and picking him up at #47 overall in the second (WalterFootball.com actually projects this scenario in its latest mock draft iteration).
Dr. FLK
10-07-2010, 12:38 PM
Clinton's blocking will be sorely missed IMO. He was terrific in blitz pick-up. Even though Torain was running better than Clinton last week, he was routinely brought in on 3rd downs and other passing situations owing his fierce blocking. Torain better be up to the task there, because the line needs help in obvious passing downs.
I don't think he really looked good this season until the last game, where he looked better than he had in a long time.
FLK is right that is blocking will be missed as it's one of his biggest strengths.
allstar1579
10-07-2010, 05:42 PM
I don't think he really looked good this season until the last game, where he looked better than he had in a long time.
FLK is right that is blocking will be missed as it's one of his biggest strengths.
This.
His burst only lasts about 3-4 steps these days, that's why he got run down in the Dallas game, and again against STL. It's fine it happens to every back about this time, we all knew it was coming, it's just scary when you don't have someone in-house ready to go. Look at Bmore. They have JLewis, they also have P. Holmes, then they draft McGahee seemingly too early, but JL breaks down and gets shipped out, then they draft Rice while McGahee seemingly is fine still, and now have a great trade chip. Lynch would have been a good gamble for a 4th and a 6th, but there should be some out there in FA too.
sdmarkakis
10-10-2010, 10:02 AM
This.
His burst only lasts about 3-4 steps these days, that's why he got run down in the Dallas game, and again against STL. It's fine it happens to every back about this time, we all knew it was coming, it's just scary when you don't have someone in-house ready to go. Look at Bmore. They have JLewis, they also have P. Holmes, then they draft McGahee seemingly too early, but JL breaks down and gets shipped out, then they draft Rice while McGahee seemingly is fine still, and now have a great trade chip. Lynch would have been a good gamble for a 4th and a 6th, but there should be some out there in FA too.
The Ravens didn't draft McGahee
allstar1579
10-10-2010, 11:35 AM
The Ravens didn't draft McGahee
My bad, meant trade for McGahee.