Clinton Portis was supposed to be the cure to all that ailed the Washington Redskins' running game. The two-time Pro Bowl performer -- one of only three NFL players to amass 1,500 yards in each of his first two seasons -- could bring back the glory days of this franchise, when Coach Joe Gibbs's teams churned out grueling drives and sapped opposing defenses.
Portis, who will sit out Sunday's season finale against Minnesota because of a torn pectoral muscle, has been productive at times, but has not resembled the dynamic force he was with the Broncos, slumping along with an inconsistent offensive line.
"I never even touched the surface of what I can do," he said. As a result, the running game has been far from what Gibbs envisioned when he traded Pro Bowl cornerback Champ Bailey and a second-round draft pick to Denver to get Portis, then signed him to an eight-year, $50.5 million contract. The Redskins are averaging just 3.7 yards per carry, 28th among 32 NFL teams.
"This has been the roughest year for me ever playing football," said Portis, who said he has been bothered much of the season by a sore right shoulder but declined to tell the team's medical staff about it. "But it's been a learning experience. To whom much is given, much is required. In my situation I'm just dealing with that, and learning to deal with that. . . . I know what's expected of me now, I know how to confront it and I know how to handle it. Next year is going to be much better."
Besides his speed and elusiveness -- the traits that allowed Portis, 23, to routinely break long runs for the Broncos -- the Redskins relished the runner's knack for getting into the end zone. Portis (5 feet 11, 205 pounds) scored 29 touchdowns in 29 regular season games (25 starts) for Denver, and never failed to score at least 14 in a season. He never went more than three games without getting into the end zone and scored two or more touchdowns nine times in 29 games, including five in one game against Kansas City last season.
Portis has just five rushing touchdowns this season -- Washington has only five on the ground as a team, worst in the NFL -- and has scored more than one touchdown only once. He went seven games without getting into the end zone. Gibbs has prized a pounding, red-zone rushing presence and his teams averaged 18 rushing touchdowns in 11 non-strike shortened seasons, often relying on a hefty back for short-yardage situations, and a dominant offensive line. Portis does not have the size to consistently gain significant yards after contact and the line has sagged, leading some to suspect a big back could be acquired in the offseason for those instances -- Eddie George, perhaps? -- despite the coaches routinely saying otherwise.
"Certainly, rushing the football is critically important to us," Gibbs said. "It's a big part of what we want to do. . . . For the overall year in our production, we haven't had it. Number one, that always starts with me. So we have to take a long hard look at everything we're doing on offense and every part of our scheme."
Many around the NFL questioned if Portis would fit well in Washington's system. Some assert that Denver's excellent offensive line was largely responsible for Portis's numbers -- that unit produces 1,000-yard rushing seasons for relative unknowns every year -- and although the Redskins have gradually tailored their blocking schemes and plays to resemble Denver's, there has been little consistent output. They utilized Portis out of more three-and-four wide receiver sets to stretch the field and get defenders off the line -- teams stack eight and nine players up front with Washington's passing game producing so poorly -- and sent him outside on sweeps and cutbacks, but Portis failed to put together consecutive 100-yard games.
"Clinton knows what we're trying to do up front and he's more familiar with the plays he likes to run now," offensive lineman Ray Brown said. "And we're really honed in on that stretch play and the outside-zone plays. Those are probably the best plays for him in this offense, and I think he's found a nice comfort level in them."
Portis, who has earned high praise for his toughness and pass blocking, has five 100-yard games, but had 10 in 13 games last season; he has been held to less than 60 yards five times this season as well. He took his first carry of the season 64 yards for a score, but did not have a run of more than 22 yards since. "From that moment where we hit the end zone against Tampa," Portis said, "it was like, 'Well they want to run the ball, so we're going to take that away.' And that's what teams did."
Last season Portis had runs of 50 yards or more in four games and went 23 yards or longer in eight. Portis ranks third in the NFC and eighth in the NFL with 1,315 rushing yards, but his 3.8 average would not put him among the top 20 backs in the league. "To have that one [long] run," Portis said, "and not having any other run over 25 yards, and you still find away to come up with 1,300 yards, it was toughest 1,300 yards in the history of the NFL, if you ask me."
Portis averaged 5.5 yards per carry with Denver but has not run for a 5.5-yard average in a single game this season. The Redskins have had no deep threat all season, and their ineffective passing game never made opponents "respect" the pass, Portis said.
"Any time you get in that position where you're having to dodge people," Portis said, "and people are getting you to chop your feet in the backfield, even when you make somebody miss there's always somebody else there just because we were so compact and the box was stacked all the time. The one big run came and happened once, and the five touchdowns was another learning experience, too. But look at my five touchdowns and look at [top receiver] Laveranues [Coles], and he's got 90 catches and one touchdown, and it just so happened that I threw that touchdown. So this was a rough year for everybody."
The Redskins were 5-0 when Portis, who averaged 22.8 carries per game, ran for 100 yards or had 29 or more carries, and winless otherwise.
They have not won a game in which Gibbs called more passing plays than running plays and have not won a game in which they have trailed at any point; establishing Portis early and winning the battle for time of possession has been the best means of grabbing and sustaining a lead this season. Although Portis's 343 carries were 53 more than his previous season high, the coaches tried to protect him. He never ran more than 25 times in consecutive games, and had 17 rushes or fewer five times in one six-week span.
Portis said he played almost all season with a sore right shoulder but kept it to himself until recently. ("How would it look if I can't play through some pain?" he said.) His season ended in the second half Sunday at Dallas because of a torn pectoral muscle. So he rests 185 yards shy of the 1,500-yard plateau, shattering Portis's dream of becoming the first runner to reach that mark in his first three NFL seasons, as an unfulfilling 2004 campaign comes to a close.
"Records are made to be broken," he said, "and someday somebody is going to do it. I think I had a chance to become the first one, but I guess it wasn't meant for me."