The last time the then-Redskins made it to the Divisional Round, they won in Tampa, and Clinton Portis was the offensive star of the squad. That was the 2005 squad into the 2006 playoffs, and like that team did, Portis told G&D Tuesday that these Commanders definitely have the chain of command right.
“I think it starts at the top, not only with the organization in the front office, but the coaching staff. (Dan Quinn) brought in something that the players brought into and you can tell, and I think the leadership and the rules are the same for everyone,” Portis said. “When the person that's leading the team, being hyped in the media and sold to the world as the franchise face, is that appreciative or that humble, it resonates through the locker room. Jayden Daniels is the face of the organization and he’s doing his thing as a rookie, but he's remained humble, focused, and confident. You can tell he's a team player in the way guys react to him, and he just goes out and makes the plays that needs to be made.”
What’s not there, which is saddening to Portis, is the running game, which he thinks is maybe personnel just needing to make some adjustments.
“I think a huge part of the run game was missing Ekeler. At this point of the season, B-Rob has to be banged up, and it’s always like he’s running sideways; he’s never really getting down here, it's like he's trying to bounce a lot of his carries,” Portis said. “But everybody is sore and banged up at this point, so it’s just his coach getting back and saying, ‘hey, square up your shoulders, get downhill.’ He’s not breaking tackles, which we kind of saw earlier in the season, so maybe something’s going on that we don’t know about, but I think it’s just a coach saying you don’t have to make everything a big play, you just have to get downhill and run hard. We saw what happened at the end of the game in Tampa when Ekeler came in, and they drove downfield.”
That said, Ekeler, Jeremy McNichols, and Chris Rodriguez haven’t lit the world on fire of late, either, so is it a systemic adjustment that’s needed?
“Again, Ekeler hasn't been a part of that, and we know he's a big play waiting to happen any time he touches the ball – but when you look at duo, I think that’s the worst run in football. Go back to gut, put a fullback in front of these guys and go downhill,” Portis said. “You’re pulling these guys and the alignment, but everything shouldn't be a developing play. You need quick hitters at some point, so go back to dives and traps and stretches. Everything is like a read option and it's a developing play, but give me the ball, let me make a read, let me square up my shoulders, get downhill and push the pile, instead of waiting on a guy to pull or make a block. Give me a fullback who is going straight ahead to the MIKE linebacker and I can just go downhill.”