Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

Some interesting Portis vs. Emmitt stats [URL=http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5218420]here[/URL]

Number of rushing yards gained by Washington running back Clinton Portis after his first four NFL seasons: 5,930 yards.

Number of rushing yards gained by the NFL's all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith after his first four NFL seasons: 5,699 yards.

Number of more carries that Portis has than Smith at this point of their careers: None. Despite having 231 more career yards after four seasons, Portis has four less carries.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

Kinda early to speculate but after this season and the way the O-line played it wouldn;t surprise me although it would take a long time.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

portis will have to play a long time, so it is hard to speculate. he may not want to play until he is 35 or whatever emmit was

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=Big C]portis will have to play a long time, so it is hard to speculate. he may not want to play until he is 35 or whatever emmit was[/QUOTE]
Only time will tell...

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

All I have to say is he'll be really up there once he retires...in 6 more years he could have 15 thousand yards. Also note that he has 41 more yards than LaDainian Tomlinson has in his first 4 season.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=saden1]All I have to say is he'll be really up there once he retires...in 6 more years he could have 15 thousand yards. Also note that he has 41 more yards than LaDainian Tomlinson has in his first 4 season.[/QUOTE]yah LT doesn't break crazy yardage numbers on the ground but to catch 100 balls in a season for a RB is insane

CHECK OUT OUR INJURY REPORT!!!!

GUESS WHO IS PROBABLE. NO guess. NO NO NO GUESS. yup thats right SPRINGS!!!

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

Yea we still have a long time to go until we find out, but those are some interesting stats.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

Also, barring any kind of serious injury to Portis I do think that he can accomplish this feat!!!

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

its not all up to portis. Dallas was Winning for most of Emmitts run and they had an awesome Oline.

The only way portis or any other back is going to break that record is by being on "dynasty".

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=jamf]its not all up to portis. Dallas was Winning for most of Emmitts run and they had an awesome Oline.

The only way portis or any other back is going to break that record is by being on "dynasty".[/QUOTE]
I would have to disagree with that, I mean look at Larry Johnson for KC, he only started 9 games this year and he amassed over 1700 yards. I do think that KC has one of the best O-lines but by no means are they a "dynasty." I think that Portis has a leigit shot at the record along with LT and Johnson. And none of them are on what anyone would call a "dynasty" team.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=Big C]portis will have to play a long time, so it is hard to speculate. he may not want to play until he is 35 or whatever emmit was[/QUOTE]

Yea who knows how long he will play. On a side note Big C, I noticed you go to VA Tech brother...I attend UVA, GO HOOS GO! Hey atleast we have one thing in common.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

What i meant by "Dynasty" was that the cowboys were in superbowl/playoff contention for more than half of Emmitts career.
KC does have a good line. if Larry is going to be in the 10k+ career yards group, he is going to need that group of guys to stay together for more than half his career.

larry has had a great season, but if he was on the 49ers, he wouldnt have broken the 1200 yard mark in the full season. but thats just my opinion.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

I remember hearing Portis say during pre-season (if memory serves correctly) he's not interested in playing that long. As long as Emmitt, that is.

The way he runs and blocks, I'm not sure he would last that long.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

Very interesting stats - looks like Portis is in excellent company for his first four years.

I think it's pretty hard to speculate about him keeping up the pace and beating someone like Smith. RB is the most physically demanding, physically punishing position on the field and they don't usually last long. Look at guys like Priest Holmes or Terrel Davis, just taking a beating. It's pretty rare for a RB to keep up that level of production for long, let alone until his late 30s / early 40s.

I think Portis is one hell of a tough guy - he takes a beating every week and keeps on going. It's really a matter of how long his body can take the punishment more than anything else.

If defenders would stop horse-collaring him (it's a damn horse-collar, under the pads or not!) he'd probably have a much better shot.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

I would like to see him hold that long if it's in a skins uni, but I honestly just don't see it happening. But also didn't Portis come out of college a couple years younger than Emmit did when he left? Plus as much as I love our o-linemen and I hate to admit something positive about the cowpies, that line that blocked for Smith was one of the best offensive lines of all time and I still believe he gets more credit than he deserves for the record.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=12thMan]The way he runs and blocks, I'm not sure he would last that long.[/QUOTE]

bless Portis, my hero, but i have serious doubts anyone that small can last long playing that hard. he's no idiot, he knows it too and to me its just more proof he cares more about winning a championship than stats or records.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

A RING makes even a short fella be a large man.
Hail Skins and Heck Yeah Clit-un!

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=BigSKINBauer]yah LT doesn't break crazy yardage numbers on the ground but to catch 100 balls in a season for a RB is insane

CHECK OUT OUR INJURY REPORT!!!!

GUESS WHO IS PROBABLE. NO guess. NO NO NO GUESS. yup thats right SPRINGS!!![/QUOTE]

I still see him listed as Questionable on Redskins.com. Where did you see this?

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

it's gonna take hard work, not getting injured, and maybe he'll have a shot. Portis has to have consistent 1500 yard seasons if he expects to be rated up there.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

The only thing that gives me pause is the beating that Portis has taken the last several years. Heavily used runningbacks tend to burn out after a couple seasons. Smith's record career statistics owe more to his anomalous ability to avoid injury than to his brilliance as an athlete.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

You could probably make that comparison with a lot of RB's after the first few years of their career. I am sure Terrel Davis was on pace to break the record for a while there to. breaking that record is all about longevity and compliling yards. Emmit hung around several years to long just to get that record, whereas other backs either don't care to break it like Barry Sanders or break down like Earl Campbell or Gayle Sayers. Emmit smith was not even close to the best back ever...he was a very good back who managed to stay healthy and play on a great team for a lot of years.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=SkinsLove24/7]Kinda early to speculate but after this season and the way the O-line played it wouldn;t surprise me although it would take a long time.[/QUOTE]It is never too early to speculate on the internet! Portis has a long, long career ahead of him, and barring serious injury, I believe that he will surpass Mr. Smith.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=skindogger47]It is never too early to speculate on the internet! [/QUOTE]


Excellent point!

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=djnemo65]The only thing that gives me pause is the beating that Portis has taken the last several years. Heavily used runningbacks tend to burn out after a couple seasons. Smith's record career statistics owe more to his anomalous ability to avoid injury than to his brilliance as an athlete.[/QUOTE]That, and the fact that it's not even a done deal that Emmit Smith is the greatest of all time. Unlike baseball, the game of football changes a great deal from year to year so that it's difficult to compare numbers. Is Emmit Smith flat-out better than Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson, and Walter Payton? The only thing about Emmit Smith you can say is that he's in that elite class of all time backs that includes Brown, Simpson, Payton, Marcus Allen, and Barry Sanders.

And as much as I love Clinton Portis, I would take any of those guys over him. And I think Joe Gibbs would too.

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

"Greatest Ever" includes folks who played prior to 1990. I know that may be a shock to a few folks here; but, sadly, it is the case.

There is a gentleman named Jim Brown who AVERAGED more than 100 yards per game for his ENTIRE CAREER. I believe his career average was 105.5 per game but I could be off by a yard or so.

Oh, and that was in the day when most teams played FIVE man defensive lines with only two linebackers and most of Brown's yards were between the tackles.

I don't think Emmitt Smith is nearly as good as Jim Brown was - nor was he as good as Walter Payton was. Smith played for a team that had a really good OL for 90% of his career and for a team that had a credible passing attack.

Brown played for a team with a marginal passing game.

Payton's career was spent with people like Bob Avelinni or Vince Carter at quarterback. Go look them up to find out what the "least common denominator for pro QBs" happens to mean.

And if you want to let your mind wander and think what might have been if Gayle Sayres had not blown out his knee in the days before surgeons knew how to reconstruct a knee...

Re: Will Portis Be the Greatest Ever?
 

[QUOTE=sportscurmudgeon]"Greatest Ever" includes folks who played prior to 1990. I know that may be a shock to a few folks here; but, sadly, it is the case.

There is a gentleman named Jim Brown who AVERAGED more than 100 yards per game for his ENTIRE CAREER. I believe his career average was 105.5 per game but I could be off by a yard or so.

Oh, and that was in the day when most teams played FIVE man defensive lines with only two linebackers and most of Brown's yards were between the tackles.

I don't think Emmitt Smith is nearly as good as Jim Brown was - nor was he as good as Walter Payton was. Smith played for a team that had a really good OL for 90% of his career and for a team that had a credible passing attack.

Brown played for a team with a marginal passing game.

Payton's career was spent with people like Bob Avelinni or Vince Carter at quarterback. Go look them up to find out what the "least common denominator for pro QBs" happens to mean.

And if you want to let your mind wander and think what might have been if Gayle Sayres had not blown out his knee in the days before surgeons knew how to reconstruct a knee...[/QUOTE]

Yeah I definitely don't think that Emmitt is the greatest running back ever. Maybe not even top 5. All I meant by the thread was look at Portis' numbers at this point compared to Emmitt's, do you think he might break Emitt's records? Though someone else might before he does.