Portis: Sit or Start Him?

If you were Zorn, would you be inclined to sit or start Portis this weekend? On the one hand, Portis is pretty banged up and could use the rest, the Ravens defense will likely stuff whomever we have in the backfield, and it's unlikely that we will win this Sunday. On the other hand, Portis is our best weapon (healthy or not), we have our backs to the wall in terms of the playoffs, and I'm afraid that Betts will get Jason killed when he's back there in pass protection.

I say play more Betts and keep Portis to 15 carries..

Sit him -- give him an extra week and he will be good for 3 100+ games against Cin SF and Phi (3 wins) making us 10-6

I say play more Betts and keep Portis to 15 carries..

yea i was thinkin somethin like that....maybe start CP...give em the first couple carries...let em disappear...then bring him in on 3rd downs..or really run him in the 2nd half or the redzone when/if the D is broken down.

Play him. You can't assume anything in today's NFL, not even that SF and Cinci are automatic victories with a healthy Portis.

Play to win. Play him. He'll fight through.

i rarely agree with schneed. but he is spot on. the key phrase is play to win. and besides, anytime Betts gets some carries, he fumbles:(

If he says he can go, I say F it, let'm play.

Play to win the game, if it gets out of hands either way, sit him down.

Betts is a worry as far as turnovers go, especially against a Raven's D in a game that will likely be decided by a few field goals and field position. Also, Betts is not the blocker Portis is.

However, as GTripp pointed out in his weekly offensive breakdown, Portis badly missed a few blocking assignments last Sunday, which is very unlike him. Now add a jammed neck to the equation, and you've got to wonder how effective he'll be. We all appreciate his toughness at this point, but if he's too hurt to do his job properly...

My opinion is he should be splitting carries this week. I agree with SGG that Baltimore will in all likelihood stuff whoever we put back there. If we rotate him and Betts evenly, at least we'll have fresher legs toting the rock.

We need some creative playcalling on offense or we're gonna get murdered by that defense.

I would prefer to sit him, let him rest for the remaining games, and let Betts get some action. I'd rather go in with Betts against the Ravens and a relatively healthy Portis against our remaining opponents, than play a banged up Portis and only aggravate his injuries.