Sportstalk 980: Portis on the play of Sean Taylor

[Drunken Master III]

I don't know how many of you guys heard but Portis stated that the main reason that it looks like Taylor is out of position sometimes is because he is trying to do his job along with compensating for other teammates. This came straight from Portis. He also stated that Taylor wouldn't even be in some plays if it were not for his athleticism. Portis believes that once Springs goes out that Taylor begins to help out the corners more than normal and that in turn takes him out of position at times. Maybe this is the reason that he lines up so close to the line of scrimmage at times. Oh yea, I believe that I heard Portis say that Taylor also RUNS THE DEFENSE.

If Taylor was on almost any other defense he would be a pro bowler by now. I truly believe that. Hopefully we can get some actual NFL players to help out next season.

[GibbsFactor]

I heard this last night.

Portis was, by the way, all cheers for Betts and the O-line however he did say he didn't understand why they run more with him out.

On Sean Taylor, he said that when Springs is in there, Sean has more freedom and less burdon. When Springs isn't in there, he has to watch the whole secondary. I agreed with everything he said.

[Trillskinsfan]

I heard this last night.

Portis was, by the way, all cheers for Betts and the O-line however he did say he didn't understand why they run more with him out.

On Sean Taylor, he said that when Springs is in there, Sean has more freedom and less burdon. When Springs isn't in there, he has to watch the whole secondary. I agreed with everything he said.


that makes two of us :cheers:

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I think that's a fair argument.

I hope CP said it in a way that didn't come across as him criticizing other defensive players though.

Edit: As for running the ball so much, maybe CP should work on his conditioning. He seems to ask to come out more often than most RBs in the league. That's my one gripe with him as a Redskin.

[Cooley4President]

It makes alot of sense, really. His best games came when everyone in the secondary was healthy and he looked like he was playing instinctually again like last year.

[casey56]

That's a good point. It really shows how important Springs and Taylor are to our defense. I also think that GW is responsible for ST being out of position a lot of the time. He has to creep up and stop the run a lot and sometimes he lets WR's get behind him on play action plays because of it. Let's hope they can figure out how to stop that in the offseason.

[Sweet Sassy Molassy]

I agree. In-fact I said that to someone earlier in the year when Springs was out.

[Warhead36]

Makes sense. I figured as such.

Rogers's development, or lack thereof, as the #1 CB is holding back the secondary.

[GibbsFactor]

I think that's a fair argument.

I hope CP said it in a way that didn't come across as him criticizing other defensive players though.

.

Sounded as if he tossed everyone not named Sean or Shawn under the bus.

[roqnap1]

Portis was, by the way, all cheers for Betts and the O-line however he did say he didn't understand why they run more with him out.

That's because Betts doesn't take himself out of the game every other play like Portis did (this year)...

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

i heard this as well, and as much as i agree, im pretty surprised. hes pretty much insinuating that the rest of the secondary blows and ST has to make up for it. very unredskin, but im glad hes telling the truth. i wonder how the secondary feels about his comments.

[monkforhall]

I think he was just saying what everyone on the team knows, that Taylor has freakish athletic ability, and can do some things that very few people could ever do. He is just a special athelete. Plus the other guys have to know that they need to step up there games, especially if Sean is being criticised for trying to do to much. I hope it lights a fire under the other guys.

[jeronimobrat]

i heard this as well, and as much as i agree, im pretty surprised. hes pretty much insinuating that the rest of the secondary blows and ST has to make up for it. very unredskin, but im glad hes telling the truth. i wonder how the secondary feels about his comments.

Well, it's too late for the secondary to be inspired by his remarks!

[Joncevensen]

I think that's a fair argument.

I hope CP said it in a way that didn't come across as him criticizing other defensive players though.

Edit: As for running the ball so much, maybe CP should work on his conditioning. He seems to ask to come out more often than most RBs in the league. That's my one gripe with him as a Redskin.
the reason they couldnt run it as much with CP was b/c of his shoulder and trying to preserve him. Besides he had reached career highs each of the past two years in carries. And he broke down in the playoffs. This year, he broke down earlier. CP cannot take the number of hits that Betts can.

[Chris Worthy]

Well we'll see if Gibbs has a talk with him and pulls him out of the starting lineup...lol

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

Well we'll see if Gibbs has a talk with him and pulls him out of the starting lineup...lol

hahaha.

"Joe Gibbs is supposedly benching starting RB Clinton Portis for his comments about the poor play of the Redskins secondary unit. When told that Clinton Portis hadn't started in weeks and was recovering from shoulder surgery, Joe Gibbs said 'His comments just weren't super smart'."

[[[ghost]]]

Clinton is saying what any sensible person watching teh redskins is saying.

[redman]

They have run more without Clinton because they made a concerted effort to "return to Redskins football" after Clinton had already been injured and placed on IR. He'll benefit from it next year.

I think he's right about Taylor and Springs.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

I've always said that if this locker room ever comes apart, it is going to be a result of the guys from "The U" banding together and throwing everyone else under the bus. Portis has danced on this line a few times during his time here, but this is as close as he has come to attacking the team.

The good news, I guess, is that Taylor, Moss, McIntosh, etc don't seem to talk at all so the only person capable of causing a media storm is CP.

It does make getting rid of Rumph a little more interesting though, doesn't it?

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

]']Clinton is saying what any sensible person watching teh redskins is saying.



too bad the coaches arent sensible enough to say that kinda stuff to the media.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

I've always said that if this locker room ever comes apart, it is going to be a result of the guys from "The U" banding together and throwing everyone else under the bus. Portis has danced on this line a few times during his time here, but this is as close as he has come to attacking the team.

The good news, I guess, is that Taylor, Moss, McIntosh, etc don't seem to talk at all so the only person capable of causing a media storm is CP.

It does make getting rid of Rumph a little more interesting though, doesn't it?




hes obviously coming to taylors defense cause they were college teammates, but you cant deny that ST is a beast on wheels and the rest of the secondary sucks because he has to play for 3 other guys out there.

[illone]

They have run more without Clinton because they made a concerted effort to "return to Redskins football" after Clinton had already been injured and placed on IR. He'll benefit from it next year.


I agree.

[EnFoRcEr_uPu]

I don't know how many of you guys heard but Portis stated that the main reason that it looks like Taylor is out of position sometimes is because he is trying to do his job along with compensating for other teammates. This came straight from Portis. He also stated that Taylor wouldn't even be in some plays if it were not for his athleticism. Portis believes that once Springs goes out that Taylor begins to help out the corners more than normal and that in turn takes him out of position at times. Maybe this is the reason that he lines up so close to the line of scrimmage at times.

If Taylor was on almost any other defense he would be a pro bowler by now. I truly believe that. Hopefully we can get some actual NFL players to help out next season.

This isn't an attack on you, as this was a great post...I just thought this was already common knowledge. I told my wife after the 2nd play of the Rams game that we were going to lose when Springs was out. It's no coincidence that our defense(and ST) aren't NEARLY as good when he's out of the lineup. Taylor is forced to try and do too much. I keep hearing about safeties like Ed Reed who are "so amazing". Well let me tell you this...give Sean Taylor the Ravens D-line, LBers and CB's, and see if Reed is so much better.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

By the way, if I ran the Skins, the one place I would NEVER let any player appear is The John Thompson Show. Maybe it's because Coach Thompson and Doc are good at creating that "barber shop" vibe players get on there and seem to forget they are on the radio.

Last year, that show was Lavar's forum to vent. This year, it's been CP's forum to vent.

(I hope this does not go off on a bad tagent because that's not my intent, but I get the impression that young black players seem really really comfortable in spilling their guts to Coach Thompson. This is true with all athletes, by the way, just not Redskins. You can really see why his Georgetown teams would always go through a wall for him. And it makes me wonder if all the players are comfortable going to the senior coaches on the Skins staff with issues. I've never been able to figure out what a conversation between Portis and Gibbs could ever possibly sound like).

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

By the way, if I ran the Skins, the one place I would NEVER let any player appear is The John Thompson Show. Maybe it's because Coach Thompson and Doc are good at creating that "barber shop" vibe players get on there and seem to forget they are on the radio.

Last year, that show was Lavar's forum to vent. This year, it's been CP's forum to vent.

(I hope this does not go off on a bad tagent because that's not my intent, but I get the impression that young black players seem really really comfortable in spilling their guts to Coach Thompson. This is true with all athletes, by the way, just not Redskins. You can really see why his Georgetown teams would always go through a wall for him. And it makes me wonder if all the players are comfortable going to the senior coaches on the Skins staff with issues. I've never been able to figure out what a conversation between Portis and Gibbs could ever possibly sound like).



thompson and walker are very easy to talk to it seems. they just tell it like it is, and im glad portis has a place to vent a little bit. id be furious if i was a star RB like him and i only got 15 carries a game on a power rushing team, then the second i go down the team starts rushing 40 times a game.

[Aghar]

1) Portis said Brunell was great too and you tended not to believe him then, why start now? :whoknows:
2 ) This is a "U" boys club thing 100%.
3 ) I don't think anyone has said Taylor "sucks". If they have, they are out of their minds. But he hasn't played well and I have heard every excuse from the loss of Ryan Clark to the sucky AA for leading the team in tackles before he was benched, to Springs missing in action to hell freezing over. Face it. He is not a great cover safety. He likes to freelance and use his instincts to be opportunistic. You can't do that if you are asked to cover for your corners all the time. ST can't do it and neither could AA, but the lesser one is benched and the other a star in so many eyes. The real root of the problem is that the opposition is used to seeing the same ole' same ole' from our defense. We need to change it up! GOT THAT GW!!? Drop the ego at the door and start making adjustments.

Edit: And isn't a little bit worrisome that a player picks up another player on this team by finding fault with a group of others? That doesn't speak much for how our lockerroom must be, does it?
:2cents:

[NOVA2Tampa]

I heard this last night.

Portis was, by the way, all cheers for Betts and the O-line however he did say he didn't understand why they run more with him out.

On Sean Taylor, he said that when Springs is in there, Sean has more freedom and less burdon. When Springs isn't in there, he has to watch the whole secondary. I agreed with everything he said.

Yup...ST gets tired when he has to pick up the slack...the secondary has been hit-or-miss this season, and it does affect ST's play.

[Brandon Lloyd Christmas]

1) Portis said Brunell was great too and you tended not to believe him then, why start now? :whoknows:
2 ) This is a "U" boys club thing 100%.
3 ) I don't think anyone has said Taylor "sucks". If they have, they are out of their minds. But he hasn't played well and I have heard every excuse from the loss of Ryan Clark to the sucky AA for leading the team in tackles before he was benched, to Springs missing in action to hell freezing over. Face it. He is not a great cover safety. He likes to freelance and use his instincts to be opportunistic. You can't do that if you are asked to cover for your corners all the time. ST can't do it and neither could AA, but the lesser one is benched and the other a star in so many eyes. The real root of the problem is that the opposition is used to seeing the same ole' same ole' from our defense. We need to change it up! GOT THAT GW!!? Drop the ego at the door and start making adjustments. :2cents:



i disagree, taylor is good in coverage, just not when hes the only one back there to cover. he is near the ball enough, and last year he had enough picks for a good saftey to have, plus he can change games when he hits people in the secondary (devery henderson touchdown saving smash). hes a great saftey, he just cant do everything by himself. its like in baseball, the guys with the most rbis bat in behind guys who get on base all the time. you cant drive in runs if nobody is on base. if quarterbacks didnt have enough time to watch "Ben Hur" twice before throwing the football, taylor would have more picks.

[Sebowski]

Best part about this is the talk of moving Springs to Safety. That would mean Taylor would will always have Springs right there so Taylor will be free to be the best safety in the league like we know he can be.
:cheers:

[Aghar]

i disagree, taylor is good in coverage, just not when hes the only one back there to cover. he is near the ball enough, and last year he had enough picks for a good saftey to have, plus he can change games when he hits people in the secondary (devery henderson touchdown saving smash). hes a great saftey, he just cant do everything by himself. its like in baseball, the guys with the most rbis bat in behind guys who get on base all the time. you cant drive in runs if nobody is on base. if quarterbacks didnt have enough time to watch "Ben Hur" twice before throwing the football, taylor would have more picks.

Your agruement would be better if he weren't being beat by TEs as well. That is a safety's responsibility more times than not.

[LiveStrongSkins]

That's because Betts doesn't take himself out of the game every other play like Portis did (this year)...

Yeah how dare him take himself out with that seperated shoulder...:rolleyes:

[Vi]

I didn't hear the comment, but it doesn't sound like purely an attack on the secondary to me, but rather also a comment on ST's personality. If he feels like he has to do everything himself when Springs is out, that is something he brings upon himself. Maybe he needs to learn to have some faith in all his teammates, perhaps even if they don't entirely deserve it, and just focus on his job. That way, if some one gets victimized on a play, it's on their shoulders, not his. Still, that sounds wrong to a degree, doesn't it?

Still, I think ST is just fine. He has a lot of talent, and he may just take a little longer to grow into it. :)

[phatboy41]

I agree with all of this... You can see it, that is why Taylor has been playing out of position for so many games this season, because once Springs goes down everything is in the air. He has to take over for everyone else who is doing an awful job. We need a younger CB, Springs gets hurt way too often now.

[Midnight Judges]

CP is exactly right. He didn't really say anything extraordinary. Sean Taylor is left to pick up the slack when Springs goes out (50% of the time this year) but I think he's picking up the slack anyway from Warrick Holdman, Kenny Wright, Carlos Rogers and even Phillip Daniels. ST is a great player but he can't do everything, nobody can.

That said, ST has missed a few tackles lately that he should have made. He is going too high on people and needs to break them down better and wrap them up. He could have put up a better effort against Stephen Jackson in the open field but that is one of the hardest tackles to make so you can't blame him for the run defense.

[Bang]

Sounds to me like Portis actually answers questions instead of ducking them with playerspeak.

I don't have a problem with it.

~Bang

[da#1skinsfan]

He is absolutely right. Taylor definitely has his fair share of bites where he is late on coverage. But just look after each play...good and bad, #21 is there. He is a freak...he literally covers the entire field. I agree with Portis 100%....just because hes "there" doesnt mean hes missed his assignment.

[tonyriggins]

I wonder if the NFL's probowl safties would have taken a cpl steps backs when they saw Steven Jackson running thier way and he was between him and the end zone and say nope I am not touching that? Who'a that big back the Giants got? If Sean is scared he will get hurt trying to tackle him! Williams needs to quite babying his boy!

[Fifty Gut]

I heard this last night.

Portis was, by the way, all cheers for Betts and the O-line however he did say he didn't understand why they run more with him out.

On Sean Taylor, he said that when Springs is in there, Sean has more freedom and less burdon. When Springs isn't in there, he has to watch the whole secondary. I agreed with everything he said.

the offense we run now is different from the one we ran then

out with the poodle offense, in with the power O

and in response to Taylor, makes sense, you don't just regress like that in your third season

wish we had access to coaches' flim... so we could see the secondary on every play and exactly what is going on back there

[Taylor21_INT_4_TD]

didnt hear this but its good to hear someone especially a good friend to stick up for him..
hes just trying to be everywhere at and playing his part...which is impossible

[Skins4481]

Your agruement would be better if he weren't being beat by TEs as well. That is a safety's responsibility more times than not.

And your arguement about Taylor being a bad coverage safety would be better if we had not seen him shut down TEs like Antonio Gates in his first two seasons. He is having an off year in coverage. But he has demonstrated in the past that he is more than capable of holding his own in coverage.

[jasimpson]

Well, in regards to ST, I guess we'll see more of the same (not playing his normal game and trying to cover for everyone) against the Giants since Springs is on injured reserve now.

[Uno Boss]

the offense we run now is different from the one we ran then

out with the poodle offense, in with the power O

and in response to Taylor, makes sense, you don't just regress like that in your third season

wish we had access to coaches' flim... so we could see the secondary on every play and exactly what is going on back there

A pure example of media brainwash...:doh:



If you think we changed anything that drastic aside from the overall team attitude then you are Nuts...


oh let me guess We went back to Gibbs old running plays.?...:rolleyes:

Everyone wants to believe that he can just wave a stick and cause that to happenbut its just not the case....


What i saw happen was ..


1.This line found comfort in the zone blocking

2. The D picked up with Springs and games got to be a lot closer so we could actually run more instead of having to play catch with the pass game in the second half...

3. We actually completed deep passes

[Aghar]

And your arguement about Taylor being a bad coverage safety would be better if we had not seen him shut down TEs like Antonio Gates in his first two seasons. He is having an off year in coverage. But he has demonstrated in the past that he is more than capable of holding his own in coverage.


If you would kindly read all of my posts on this subject ( countless since the season began) you would realize that I credited him with this. I am only saying that with our weak CBs Taylor AND Archuletta were hung out to dry and asked to be complete cover safeties and not specialize in what they do best. I am not about to say anything else but Taylor is a good safety that when able to frrelance like he should is one of the best ion the game and Archuletta would have fit in perfectly on this defense 2 years ago. You people who make the excuses for Taylor hung Archuletta out to dry for the same reasons you excuse Taylor now. I don't understand it. I have always held the opinion that both of these safeties, in the right defenseive scheme with the proper tools around, would be the best tandum in the league. Many would disagree and say Archulleta sucks and yet every play similar that Taylor has failed on was because the rest of the defense is terrible. :rolleyes:

[darrell1106]

Also, did you guys here on Sports Talk 980 how Doc Walker discovered that ST is fined $15K (i heard from second hand source of the exact amount) automatically for not being available to the media after the game? He also attributed this type of behavior as the basis to why the skins are so bad this season. That Gibbs allows this type of behavior w/o any repracussions(?). And also treats players different based on name.

He mentioned, "This isn't the Gibbs I played for...he would've never alowed that."

[ZoEd]

I think that's a fair argument.

I hope CP said it in a way that didn't come across as him criticizing other defensive players though.

Edit: As for running the ball so much, maybe CP should work on his conditioning. He seems to ask to come out more often than most RBs in the league. That's my one gripe with him as a Redskin.

Maybe they're running the ball more because they want to keep the offense simple for a young QB. Also since JC poses a threat with the long ball defenses can't cheat putting 7 in the box to stop the run opening up more lanes for run game. It's all relative (I'm not just saying that because I'm from WV either :D ) one opens up the other. If they want to shut down the run game then JC will light their asses up; with him at QB it opens up the field a lot.

Edit: There isn't too many backs in the league that go as hard as CP play after play. You don't see elite RB's in the NFL blocking like he does. Watch Tiki, Alexander, LT, Johnson; they may block but CP knocks the snot out of would be blitzers. The dude is a beast. Take the time to watch him live and see just how much he does on the field. :2cents:

[NAILBOMB9]

Taylor needs to go back to #36!!! PERIOD!!!

[Bang]

A pure example of media brainwash...:doh:



If you think we changed anything that drastic aside from the overall team attitude then you are Nuts...


oh let me guess We went back to Gibbs old running plays.?...:rolleyes:

Everyone wants to believe that he can just wave a stick and cause that to happenbut its just not the case....


What i saw happen was ..


1.This line found comfort in the zone blocking

2. The D picked up with Springs and games got to be a lot closer so we could actually run more instead of having to play catch with the pass game in the second half...

3. We actually completed deep passes

That's nice.
Here's what i heard from the mouth of Joe Bugel
We went back to Redskins football. Power football. Counters and traps. (hell in the game against The rams they ran the old counter gap straight out of 1983, and even the dope calling the game remarked that NO one runs that play anymore,, and here's Gibbs running his old offense and it's working for him.

All week long Gibbs and Bugel have been talking about this meeting they all had about 6 weeks ago in which Gibbs insisted on running more of wht he called "Redskins football", meaning in the words of Bugel, "Up the gut smashmouth football." (Of course, Gibbs downplays everything,, says he didn't really do much, just said that we had to get back to founding principals, etc... funny how we're now having announcers point out 20 yr old plays that are working.)
Now at my last check Bugel isn't part of the media brainwashing me.
In FACT all of the talk you claim to be media brainwashing is predicated on what Gibbs and Bugel and others on the team have recently said about why things seem different.
Now i agre with the rest of your assessments as well, but you should realize that they ARE running things old school, Gibbs HAS taken back more control of the plays being called, and it's apparent.

So while you're rolling your eyes about who's brain is being washed, maybe you should listen to what the guys actually doing the job have to say, and then realize that in your oblivion to all that has been said this week, perhaps it's your brain that has been dropped off for dry cleaning.

Now if you could only remember where you put that ticket....

~Bang

[isle-hawg]

Sounds to me like Portis actually answers questions instead of ducking them with playerspeak.

I don't have a problem with it.

~Bang

I don't either. I respect JG but his press conf. are predicatible (boring) coach speak. I cannot root for Parcells since he is the pukes coach but enjoy his press conf as much as anybody because he speaks his mind. CP is doing that for us and he lays it out every play (even in pre-season) and speaks his mind when asked direct questions. His answers are not always PC but I have yet to hear him outright disrespect a teammate or coach outright.

[RDSKNfaithfull]

I think that's a fair argument.

I hope CP said it in a way that didn't come across as him criticizing other defensive players though.

Edit: As for running the ball so much, maybe CP should work on his conditioning. He seems to ask to come out more often than most RBs in the league. That's my one gripe with him as a Redskin.

He didn't he said Taylor is making up for 3 handicaps :doh: :laugh:

[robotfire]

Edit: As for running the ball so much, maybe CP should work on his conditioning. He seems to ask to come out more often than most RBs in the league. That's my one gripe with him as a Redskin.He has said before that one of the reasons he does it is because he feels like Betts can take over for him really well. To me, that shows Portis's team spirit. It also shows that he's humble.

[roqnap1]

Yeah how dare him take himself out with that seperated shoulder...:rolleyes:

You obviously missed the point. You don't run the ball as much if your #1 RB isn't in the game. Up until CP was put on IR, we didn't really know what Betts could do...so we didn't run as much. CP would be insane to think that we're going to run the ball just on the plays that he's actually in there. That would just tell every defense what we're going to do. You gotta be in there to get the ball. He needs to stop questioning the coaching staff when he's to blame...

...okay..."blame" isn't the right word....but you know what I mean....