The Overestimation of Clinton Portis

The Washington Post has an article about how the Redskins only win when Portis rushes for 100 yards or more.

And since Portis joined the team in 2004, the Redskins are 21-4 when he rushes for at least 100 yards. Last year, they were 5-1. That lone loss a season ago was against the Rams.

Attributing wins to rushing yards is foolish as teams rush when they are winning, and throw the ball when they are losing and need to score quickly. So a team that is winning always rushes more to eat up the clock.

A better look at Portis (and Jason La Canfora, the former Skins Post guy who is now at NFL Network would dive into stuff like this, and we miss him) is how Portis performs versus his peers. Football Outsiders, which is a great outfit of stats, ranked Portis last week at 33 of 45 running backs that they rank. I don't need to remind you that there are only 32 NFL teams so Portis ranked below any starting running back on any NFL team. And I am sure he is the only one making $6MM per year.

So the Redkins have an underperforming running back who is overpaid and a DT whose pay is a record and is so out of shape that he has to sit out plays. Perhaps the Skins ought to buy four or five players instead of The One and try to develop a team.