Clinton Portis 50/50 for the Dallas game, injury updates

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

If you listen to Redskins Radio the consensus seems to be there's no way Portis plays Sunday night. A grade 2 MCL sprain kept Tomlinson out for six weeks last year. Zorn even said that it would be stupid to risk aggravating the injury. If he's not going to be effective, he might as well stay on the sidelines.

Betts' injury must have been much more serious than I thought. It's been four weeks and he's still not ready to play.

I haven't had much of a chance to listen to 980AM this week. But like I said, I HOPE Portis doesn't play. We need him 100% down the stretch a lot more than we need him at 60-70% for this one game.

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by GMScud

I haven't had much of a chance to listen to 980AM this week. But like I said, I HOPE Portis doesn't play. We need him 100% down the stretch a lot more than we need him at 60-70% for this one game.

Agreed. And you know, with Portis out, Zorn and the offensive coaching staff may have to resort to the unthinkable: relying more on the passing game to move the football.

We haven't seen Jason Campbell be a one-man wrecking crew yet. If it were up to me, I'd put him in the shotgun for 70% of the plays and let it ride.

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

Agreed. And you know, with Portis out, Zorn and the offensive coaching staff may have to resort to the unthinkable: relying more on the passing game to move the football.

We haven't seen Jason Campbell be a one-man wrecking crew yet. If it were up to my, I'd put him in the shotgun for 70% of the plays and let it ride.

No doubt. I don't know about 70% of the time, but I agree that more shotgun and creative playcalling will be necessary. I think we should hit Rock on some nice screen passes, get Cooley more involved, and spread it around. I say we take a deep shot or two to Devin Thomas as well. He may not know the playbook perfectly, but a go route ain't that hard. He'll definitely see single coverage.

There is no doubt in my mind that Jason can pick apart the Dallas secondary. I hope we give him the chance. If we try to lean on Alexander like we do with Portis, we'll almost definintely lose. But I think Zorn is too smart to do that.

IMO this will be our most unique offensive game of the season (as compared to our frist 9 games anyway).

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by GMScud

No doubt. I don't know about 70% of the time, but I agree that more shotgun and creative playcalling will be necessary. I think we should hit Rock on some nice screen passes, get Cooley more involved, and spread it around. I say we take a deep shot or two to Devin Thomas as well. He may not know the playbook perfectly, but a go route ain't that hard. He'll definitely see single coverage.

There is no doubt in my mind that Jason can pick apart the Dallas secondary. I hope we give him the chance. If we try to lean on Alexander like we do with Portis, we'll almost definintely lose. But I think Zorn is too smart to do that.

IMO this will be our most unique offensive game of the season (as compared to our frist 9 games anyway).

The one thing that disappointed me about the Pittsburgh game was how Zorn and Sherman Lewis gameplanned for the Steeler pass rush. Dallas has some quick D-linemen too, (though nothing compared to Pittsburgh), so I'll be curious to see how they've gone back to the drawing board.

As an example, Troy Polamalu was rocketing to the line whenever Portis carried the ball on a stretch running play. I remember hearing a few years ago how offensive coordinators said the same thing about Sean Taylor, that he was susceptible to the running back option pass because of his ferocity to stop the run. So if I thought of it, you know someone on the coaching staff did. But they never tried it.

If there's a criticism I have so far of Zorn as a playcaller, it's that when the fecal matter starts hitting the rotary device, he doesn't seem to have in-game answers. Maybe that's something that will adjust as he grows into the job. When things are going smoothly, he's fine and we saw that at Dallas and Philly -- he knows how to keep things on a roll.

It seems like all the pieces are there for a dominating passing attack if they would just try it. Hell, even during Gibbs's first stint, he was known to go bombs away when he had to. I want to see that from Zorn the offensive mastermind too.

[RobH4413]

Didn't see this posted... but not good news.

ESPN - Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis unlikely to play against Dallas Cowboys

[53Fan]

Originally Posted by GMScud

No doubt. I don't know about 70% of the time, but I agree that more shotgun and creative playcalling will be necessary. I think we should hit Rock on some nice screen passes, get Cooley more involved, and spread it around. I say we take a deep shot or two to Devin Thomas as well. He may not know the playbook perfectly, but a go route ain't that hard. He'll deflnitely see single coverage.

There is no doubt in my mind that Jason can pick apart the Dallas secondary. I hope we give him the chance. If we try to lean on Alexander like we do with Portis, we'll almost definintely lose. But I think Zorn is too smart to do that.

IMO this will be our most unique offensive game of the season (as compared to our frist 9 games anyway).

That's what I've been saying. It's not that complicated to go deep. Give Thomas a shot downfield. Anyone looking at our game film would definitely not expect it. This may be the time Zorn was looking to change things up anyway. If things go well, this game could be a tremendous boost to our offense. Throw Davis in the mix in a 2 tightend set and shake things up a little.