2006-08-14

The Preseason Debate, Renewed

I was really high on Clinton Portis until today. Already one of the NFL's top runningbacks, the Skins had added more offensive weapons (Brandon Lloyd, Randle El) and the architect behind the Kansas City offense (Al Saunders). Fantasy wise I had him pegged as my number one pick.

But now Portis' stock takes a rather large plummet following an injury in a meaningless exhibition game. Michael Wilbon describes it better than I can:

Only four minutes in, Portis suffered a partial dislocation of his left shoulder. The starters on offense took 13 snaps. But that was long enough for Portis to get crunched while making a tackle after Mark Brunell was intercepted. So Portis got hurt making a typically earnest effort on a worthless play he shouldn't even have been involved in during a meaningless game.

Besides being a perfect example of why Gruden should continue to withhold Cadillac from exhibition games, this SHOULD be the clarion call for the NFL to shorten the preseason to 2 games. Actually the Vick injury some years back SHOULD have been the clarion call. But like the aftermath of the Vick injury, I expect to see plenty of uproar over the next week about shortening the preseason, but little movement from the NFL.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

A: He got injured in the first preseason game, so having 2 less is irrelevent

B: 2 extra preseason games gives him more time to recover for the season

Ski said...

true, but if you want to play the what if game Portis would not even have been playing last night. Instead he'd be at home getting ready for his first preseason game two weeks from now.

of course, if we continue to play the what if game then it is possible that last night, while walking down his stairs Portis tripped, tumbled down into the basement and smacked himself into his stripper pole partially seperating his shoulder.

bottom line...fewer preseason games, fewer injuries.