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Clinton Portis: The chip's backon his shoulder
Redskins camp
Date published: 7/29/2007
BY ADAM HIMMELSBACH ASHBURN--Clinton Portis walked slowly up the slight hill, helmet in hand. At the top, a few feet from the Redskins' training facility, there were several large plastic tubs filled with ice water. The tubs looked like the small children's pools that you place in your backyard and use a garden hose to fill, except these were deeper and occupied by football players. Portis, the Redskins' starting running back, stepped into the icy water and let out a long sigh. "No room for you in here!" Portis joked with linebacker Marcus Washington, who was also looking for a quick cool-down. "Find your own pool." Then Portis stretched both of his arms and smiled. It was just the second day of training camp, but for Portis, this preseason has started much better than the way the last one ended. In a preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals last Aug. 13, Portis sprinted down the field to make a tackle after an interception. He hit Bengals cornerback Keiwan Ratliff, and then he went to the ground with a partially separated left shoulder. And so began perhaps the least memorable season of Clinton Portis' career. He missed the rest of the preseason because of the shoulder injury. He played through the pain in the opening game, but the shoulder kept him out of the Redskins' Week 2 game against the Dallas Cowboys. On Nov. 12, Portis broke his right hand during the first quarter of a game against the Philadelphia Eagles. He ended his season with a career-low 523 yards on an average of 4.1 yards per carry. "Three out of my four years I played with a chip on my shoulder," Portis said. "It's when I finally got comfortable and felt I arrived to elite status that I got relaxed and I ended up getting hurt. And all of a sudden everything I've done is forgotten about. Right now, I'm stepping out like a rookie. I have to prove to the world that I'm still dangerous." Portis underwent offseason shoulder surgery, but that was not the most talked-about moment off his time away. Instead, Portis drew criticism for his comments about Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick's alleged dog-fighting ring. Portis told a Virginia television station: "If that's what [Vick] wants to do, do it. I think people should mind their business."
Date published: 7/29/2007
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