Gibbs Press Conference

Joe Gibbs's end of the year press conference has been posted on Redskins.com (http://www.redskins.com/). It's almost an hour long.

Here's the direct link: http://play.rbn.com/?url=nfl/nfl/open/redskins/demand/050103redskinspress.rm&proto=rtsp&rbnkey=1
(requires Real Player)

Everyone please play close attention to what Gibbs says about Portis......

mind giving us a hint, Redskins_P?

My bad Daseal.

I think one of the reporters asked Gibbs if he had thought about getting a bigger back to fit his system. And before the guy could even finish his question Gibbs said that Portis was one of the toughest backs he ever coached, his numbers speak for themselves and that Portis is fine. He then went on to say "Last time I checked, 1300yds in this league is good year".

I'm sure theres some stuff that I missed, but that pretty much puts it in a nutshell.

1300 is definitely a good year considering the average performance of the line in front of him.

With some tweaks to the offense, a hopefully improved passing game and better play from the line Portis will be much more explosive next year.

Portis just needs a big short-yardage back to have his back on third and one.

He then went on to say "Last time I checked, 1300yds in this league is good year".

I'm sure theres some stuff that I missed, but that pretty much puts it in a nutshell.

But on how many carries? When you nearly break the team record for number of rushes for a season, you're going to get 1300 yards eventually --even with this offensive line.

I wasn't impressed with Portis this year. We gave up too much for him, and I think just about any other running back, either a draft pick or a less than flashy free agent could have done no worse. When Gibbs came back, the last thing I expected was a continuation of recklessly charging after big name players from other teams that busts the seams of our salary cap, with little or no results in the win/loss column.

Same ol' story. Winners of the offseason, losers in December watching other teams in the playoffs.

I'm expecting a drastic improvement in our running game next season. John Jansen will be back. Our O-line will have the timing down on properly running the counter-trey. Portis would have learned to be more patient, and hopefully, Joe Gibbs will implement some running scheme that will showcase Portis' strengths (his speed and agility). I remember seeing Gibbs' running some stretch plays and quick toss plays during mid-season, but I don't think he ran any of those towards the end.

But on how many carries? When you nearly break the team record for number of rushes for a season, you're going to get 1300 yards eventually --even with this offensive line.

I wasn't impressed with Portis this year. We gave up too much for him, and I think just about any other running back, either a draft pick or a less than flashy free agent could have done no worse. When Gibbs came back, the last thing I expected was a continuation of recklessly charging after big name players from other teams that busts the seams of our salary cap, with little or no results in the win/loss column.

Same ol' story. Winners of the offseason, losers in December watching other teams in the playoffs.

Just about any other running back?? Who Trung Canidit(SP)??? Rock Cartwright? If you remember too Betts wasnt a sure thing either, look at all the time he spent being injured!!!

And to talk about the ammount of carries!!! LaDainian Tomlinson carried the ball 339 times for 1335 yards, hell the seasons rushing title holder carried the ball 371 time for almost 1700 yards, and if you look at Martin and Tomlinson they are playing in an offense that hasnt changed on them. Portis carried the ball 343 times for 1315 yards in a totaly brand new offenseive schem. I am sorry but Portis is the real deal, look at his numbers, the last back we had with numbers like his was Davis and that was 3 seasons ago!!

Oh an here is a link to the stat page on nfl.com where you can see that Portis ranks 8th over all and 3rd overall in the NFC
NFL - http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL/RYDS/2004/regular
NFC - http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFC/RYDS/2004/regular