Interview with Portis

http://www.redskins.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=3122

Q: Do you expect to see more stretch running plays in the ground game this year?
A: "You know, coach just made a point where we averaged five yards a carry on a stretch play last year. If I had known that, that would have been the only call we would have been making in the games. I think we are changing a lot of things up. We are going to get this right. We are tweaking things."

Interesting stat there, 5.0 yards per carry on stretch plays. There's some reason for optimism right there, Gibbs has stated that he wants to see more stretch plays in the offense!

HA! I was just getting ready to post that. Nice job Mr. Quicky Quick. ;)

Getting VERY excited after reading that post. Let's keep the upbeat player interviews coming. That's what gets me through the preseason.

By the way, is it just me, or does Portis give a really good interview (both in this interview and in others he's given)? I really love how he seems to have stepped up right into the role of offensive team leader / team spokesman. He could have taken the money and gotten lazy or complacent, but he really seems to want this team to do well. I'm getting more and more excited about the season by the minute.

Great! Look for Portis to have over 1500 yds and hopefully a trip to Hawaii. If we can average 5.0 yds a carry, just imagine how that can help our playaction passes.

Teams will still stack the run and make Patrick, Moss, and Patten beat them! Which I hope they can baby!

Hopefully this happens, but I agree with skinny. The running game will come down to having a passing game. If we can show that we CAN hurt them with our passing game then we're set.

Hopefully this happens, but I agree with skinny. The running game will come down to having a passing game. If we can show that we CAN hurt them with our passing game then we're set.

Yeah agreed.

I like the O-Line's chances at giving Ramsey enough time to get the ball off. They showed solid pass protection towards the end of last year, and now we have Jansen back, plus Rabach.

I like the speed of Santana Moss and David Patten, there's no reason they can't at least threaten the safeties on deep routes. Moss will need to stay healthy, of course.

And I like Ramsey's arm strength.

The things to watch for are Ramsey's accuracy on the deep balls (can he actually connect), and can our smaller receivers get off the jam that physical corners are sure to put on them. The illegal contact rule helps our smurfs, but they've still got to contend with those first five yards. They both showed they can do it with big yards-per-catch numbers last year. So if Ramsey's accuracy is there, I can see it coming together nicely.

The good thing is, I know Ramsey has done it in the past. In the Spurrier-era when he was throwing downfield a lot, he had a pretty good touch on the ball, especially to McCants.

i feel good about the redskins this year. i hope they run some more stretch plays too.

this is a little off the subject, but, even the most casaul football or even Joe Gibbs/redskins fan knows that the redskins offense held back a lot during last years's preseason. . .


1. do you guys think that had an effect on our crappy offense being out of sync all year?

2. do you think St. Joe will roll out the shotgun and stretch plays at all this preseason, or keep them guarded until week 1?