It's been a hard week for Clinton Portis. After falling intentionally against the Rams at the tail end of a 27-yard run, Portis saw his carries reduced significantly in the second half. He's spent all week talking about that, and what his role with the team will be moving forward. On Thursday, he told members of the media that he expects his starting job to be there waiting for him when the Redskins play the Eagles on Sunday, according to Mike Jones.
"Ain't nothing to clarify, bro," said Portis, who through three games this season has has 38 carries for 140 yards and two touchdowns.
Just to be clear, I'm not your bro, guy. But I digress.
"I have no idea why it changed," he said of his role. "I didn’t get into detail about it. You can go watch the run over and over again. If I had the chance to do it again, I’d do the same thing with five people around me. Maybe I could’ve picked up four more yards. Four more yards I don’t think would have determined the outcome of that game. It happened, it’s a situation that’s over. We were in practice yesterday and start preparing for the Eagles.
"I still consider myself a feature back and one of the best backs, and I’m gonna always feel that way," Portis continued. "I don’t think anything has changed. Some days just don’t work. I’ve been in the situation [of having role reduced in-game] before. Couple years ago, the Ravens game; happened in the Steelers game another year. It just happened. ... After those games nothing changed and after this game, I’m sure nothing will change."
I'm going to side with Clinton on this one. There's no way the Redskins can start Ryan Torrain over him and feel good about their chances to win in Philadelphia. Even if he doesn't get the carries he is expecting, he'll certainly be on the field for the Redskins first drive.
As long as he just proves that he can stay on his feet unless impeded by a member of the other team, I think he'll be just fine.