bigger role for Betts this year?

53fan:

You have identified THE most important issue that the Skins face this year with regard to their offense. The OL may not be fixed; the WRs may still be mediocre; Jason Campbell may not improve by leaps and bounds. So what? Here is the BIG ISSUE:

Will Clinton Portis become the Washington version of a diva a la T.O and/or Chad 85 and/or Plaxico Earp?

If he does, none of the other things matter even a little bit.


Clinton Portis is a damned good RB. Over the last year or two, he has also become a hell of a diva. If you listed the top 5 divas in the NFL, he would not make everyone's list, but he'd be on some of them; if you listed the top 10 divas, he makes every list there is. At least part of that " 'tude" comes from the access to Danny Boy that he has had as one of "Danny's Boys". If Portis decides to play his cards against Zorn, look for all of this to blow up in the team's face sometime around Halloween - - Thanksgiving at the latest.


What Portis seems not to realize is that if he wears out his welcome here, there is NO other owner in the league that is going to pay him like he's paid here in Washington AND coddle him as he has been coddled here in Washington. He may succeed in gettng Zorn fired, but if a Super Bowl winning coach comes here to replace Zorn (Shanahan, Holmgren, Cowher, Gibbs) and Portis tries his diva act with the new coach, it will be like the title of the movie from a year or two ago:


There Will Be Blood

Portis could very easily be the Edgerrin James to Zorn's Ken Whisenhunt.

GTripp:

That's fine if it gets the team to where James/Whisenhunt got last year...


However, it could also be Chad 85/Marvin Lewis...

Wasn't sure where to put this and didn't want to start a new thread for it so I'll put it here. I was watching Sportsnite tonight and they were talking to Jason Reid of the WP. Seems there were reports of Portis calling Zorn out in front of other players during OTA's. Reid said he called a couple of players and was asked why it was a big deal. They said they didn't see it, but everyone knows Portis doesn't like Zorn because he holds him accountable. When the reporter commented that there wasn't much Zorn could do because of Portis's contract and his relationship with Danny, Reid said what he can do, and what he thinks he will do, is tell Portis they are going to play guys who are going along with the program. Reid said he expects to see a lot more of Betts this year. He said everyone knows Zorns job is "shaky" and if he goes out, he'll go out swinging. I'm just reporting what I heard. I don't know how shaky Zorns job is, but I think this is an important year and the offense should show a lot of improvement for Zorn to be retained. If these reports are true, I'm behind Zorn all the way.

I know people hate this source but take it for what it is:

ProFootballTalk.com - Portis Becoming A Major Problem For Zorn (http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/06/19/portis-becoming-a-major-problem-for-zorn/)

My 2 cents, yeah CP can be a pain in the ass. It would be stupid to deny such at this point. But in the end the guy does go balls out on game day. Nobody can dispute that.

I don't see him blowing up into a major problem, but it's probably something to keep an eye on.

By the way, anyone else get a little kick out of Riggo calling someone else a headache? In many ways Riggo and CP are the same kind of guy. A bit of an enigma off the field, nothing but a baller on it.

GTripp:

That's fine if it gets the team to where James/Whisenhunt got last year...


However, it could also be Chad 85/Marvin Lewis...Well, I think that will rely on Campbell becoming Warner, which would rely on Zorn becoming Whisenhunt.

Or some other really strange circle of events.

I know people hate this source but take it for what it is:

ProFootballTalk.com - Portis Becoming A Major Problem For Zorn (http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/06/19/portis-becoming-a-major-problem-for-zorn/)

My 2 cents, yeah CP can be a pain in the ass. It would be stupid to deny such at this point. But in the end the guy does go balls out on game day. Nobody can dispute that.

I don't see him blowing up into a major problem, but it's probably something to keep an eye on.

By the way, anyone else get a little kick out of Riggo calling someone else a headache? In many ways Riggo and CP are the same kind of guy. A bit of an enigma off the field, nothing but a baller on it.

This was linked on that PFT post - pretty funny:

Anatomy of a Rumor: Favre-to-Redskins | Mr. Irrelevant (http://misterirrelevant.com/index.php/2009/06/18/anatomy-of-a-rumor-brett-favre-is-totally-coming-to-the-redskins/)

Anyway, I'm really disappointed if this is true about Portis. The guy is coming off a year where he was 4th in the league in rushing, despite an awful passing attack and a beat up O-line, and I'd say both of those areas are improved. So what the hell is his beef? I think at this point it's on Danny to get his pal Clinton in line here.

First off, I think Portis is not going to be a major distraction. Zorn will play him because he knows, whether or not they get along, that Portis will give him the best chance to win and is what's best for their offense.

Second, I think Betts would be the starter and/or major contributor for any other team in the nfl. He's no hall-of-famer, but he's good. So yeah, playing him more would benefit the team in two ways - you would get another guy out there with fresh legs that would be able to exploit the defense in a different way (in part because of his perspective on the sidelines) and it would keep Portis healthier and less worn out.

And lastly, from what I've seen of Mason - he has great talent. He has great vision and makes great decisions on the field. To hell, with all of the naysayers that say that he was playing against inferior talent - a great move is a great move and great instincts are great instincts no matter who you're playing against.

Zorn will still play Portis, of course. But I think it will be more on Zorns terms and Betts will see more time whether Portis likes it or not.

First off, I think Portis is not going to be a major distraction. Zorn will play him because he knows, whether or not they get along, that Portis will give him the best chance to win and is what's best for their offense.

Second, I think Betts would be the starter and/or major contributor for any other team in the nfl. He's no hall-of-famer, but he's good. So yeah, playing him more would benefit the team in two ways - you would get another guy out there with fresh legs that would be able to exploit the defense in a different way (in part because of his perspective on the sidelines) and it would keep Portis healthier and less worn out.

And lastly, from what I've seen of Mason - he has great talent. He has great vision and makes great decisions on the field. To hell, with all of the naysayers that say that he was playing against inferior talent - a great move is a great move and great instincts are great instincts no matter who you're playing against.

To the first point in bold, I don't think that's accurate if the stories we're reading are true. If he's calling out the coach in front of others players, then it's already a major distraction. I see this issue being nipped in the bud sooner rather than later, but the way Portis is allegedly behaving is unacceptable.

I also disagree with the second point in bold. There a few teams he may start for, but not many. Off the top of my head, for sure in Seattle, Tampa Bay, and Cleveland, and maybe in Green Bay, Cincinnati, and Detroit. He'd get carries for the Pats as well, but they use so many RBs, no one is really the starter. Every other team in the league has at least one RB on their roster better than Betts, IMO.

Denver is one exception here, although given the success of rookie RBs lately, I think that job is already Moreno's to lose.

To the first point in bold, I don't think that's accurate if the stories we're reading are true. If he's calling out the coach in front of others players, then it's already a major distraction. I see this issue being nipped in the bud sooner rather than later, but the way Portis is allegedly behaving is unacceptable.

I also disagree with the second point in bold. There a few teams he may start for, but not many. Off the top of my head, for sure in Seattle, Tampa Bay, and Cleveland, and maybe in Green Bay, Cincinnati, and Detroit. He'd get carries for the Pats as well, but they use so many RBs, no one is really the starter. Every other team in the league has at least one RB on their roster better than Betts, IMO.

Denver is one exception here, although given the success of rookie RBs lately, I think that job is already Moreno's to lose.I don't know if Betts would be a featured runner anywhere. I think he'd be the lead dog in Seattle, but they have the worst RB situation in the NFL. Arizona could use him as well. But that's about it. He'd be in a time share in Cleveland/Green Bay.

As for Moreno, I'm not sold on him as an NFL-quality runner coming out of college. Of course, I also decided--back in 2007--that Adrian Peterson would take two or three years to learn how to hit NFL-type holes. So given that assessment, he'll start looking like an NFL RB within a year or two ;)