While in training camp, Clinton Portis lobbied hard for less playing time for starters as preseason neared.
Portis didn’t want himself or any other key component to be injured and therefore jeopardize the momentum that the Redskins had built after going to the playoffs last season.
In an unfortunate display of foreshadowing, Portis partially dislocated his left shoulder in a 19-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night.
He took one handoff for eight yards and then blocked for quarterback Mark Brunell. When Keiwan Ratliff intercepted Brunell’s sixth attempt, however, Portis extended his left arm to make a tackle and partially knocked the bone part of the way out the shoulder socket.
“After that 8-yard run, I was like, ‘Get me out of that game,'” Portis said. “That’s what I was thinking. It’s football. It can happen to anyone. It happened to me.”
“For whoever’s watching: Let’s get rid of some of these games,” Portis said. “Four games is ridiculous. Then you play a 16-game season and the playoffs behind that.”
Portis knows that this kind of thing can happen to any player at any time. It’s just unfortunate to have star players like Portis, who rushed for a club-record 1,516-yards last year, go down in just the first preseason game.
So, what does this mean for the Redskins?
Well for one, with no timetable set for Portis to return (at least not yet anyway), Ladell Betts will take over the starting roll. Betts rushed for 338-yards on 89 carries last year and did rush for 92-yards in a game against the 49ers.
Betts isn’t as shifty as Portis in between the tackles, but is a bigger back at 223-pounds and could share the load with special-teams guy Rock Cartwright.
The biggest thing that possibly dooms the Redskins is that they play in the NFC East and there is no room for error in a division that could house multiple playoff teams. However, Washington only plays two division games (at. Dallas Week 2; at. NY Giants Week 5) before their BYE week and that might give Portis enough time to return.
With Washington relying so much on Portis to open things up for Brunell in the passing game, this is going to put a lot of pressure on the Redskins defense to keep them in games. Brunell resurrected his career last year, but he needs a running game now, more than ever and can’t do it on his own.
UPDATE: Coach Joe Gibbs said that Portis will miss the remainder of the preseason, but the goal is to have him back by the season opener if his shoulder recovers from soreness in time for him to rehab.
