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Originally Posted by Mattyk72
Schneed10, you point out John Riggins' per carry averages, but Portis is NOT John Riggins. If we continue to pound him into the line for 3 yards and a cloud of dust is that really productive and playing to his strengths?
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I'm glad you did play devil's advocate because the discussion was getting a little thin since there hasn't been any news lately.
I definitely don't think we should just keep running the bunched formation plays with Portis all the time, you're right he's definitely not built like a grinder. My only point was to say that Riggins never got us more than 4 yards per carry, and yet we won a Super Bowl that way.
Now, that's not to say we can't (or shouldn't) get more out of Clinton Portis. Portis is more talented than Riggins was, he's just not as tough as old number 44. We can get Portis back to 4.5 yards per carry if we play to his strengths, and we definitely should do so by running zone-blocking stretch plays, because it should ratchet up his yards per carry and take some of the burden off the questionable passing game.
And that really is the key. With Riggins running sub-4 yards, we were able to win because we had Joey T, Art Monk, and tremendous pass protection amongst other offensive weapons. When you have a passing game that good, you don't need a guy picking up a first down every time you hand off. But Patrick Ramsey, Santana Moss, and our dirtbags don't quite compare to that passing game. So if we expect to do something, we still need to rely on Portis.
Now that's not to say Ramsey is incapable of stepping up, but I do agree with you that improving the running game is important to our success. But (at the risk of stating the obvious) our passing game is where we need to make the most improvement. If Ramsey does make the Drew Brees leap, a 3.8 ypc from Portis would be just fine.
4.5 would be better though
