With everything that happened around the Redskins this season, it’s hard to even remember the flap about a shouting match between Clinton Portis and Mike Sellers after their October victory over the Buccaneers.
Portis and Sellers had a “heated verbal exchange” at Redskins camp over allegations that Portis went to coaches and asked that the fullback be benched during that game. Portis addressed the situation in his inimitable style without confirming or denying the request and things eventually cooled down as the Redskins went on with their dismal season.
It came up again during Portis’s visit with the guys at the NFL Network on Saturday, though, and this time Portis came clean. Interestingly, he claims the request came about because Sellers had been pushing him to be more of a vocal leader. Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post passes along the particulars of his story.
“We got into the game, I felt like Mike was lacking,” Portis said. “I let Mike know that he was lacking. Listen, that’s what he asked me to do, so I just asked him, I told him, I said Mike, c’mon baby, I need you. We went out, it happened again. Therefore I came to the sideline and I told them, I was like I just didn’t want a fullback in front of me, put me in one-back.”
“And then they was like, ‘Well, we want to run our game plan for two backs.’ I said put Todd Yoder in front of me and run downhill. All of the sudden, Mike take that and ‘Whoooo, you trying to get me benched and you throwing me under the bus.’ You just asked me to come tell you if I had a problem. I told you in the game. It’s not like I didn’t tell Mike. I told him during the game, ‘C’mon Mike, I need you.’ And then I get to the sideline and it’s like blown out. I guess a coach or somebody went back and told him, ‘Oh, Clinton wanted you out of the game,’ and then Mike addressed the situation.”
As the late Paul Harvey might say, now you know the rest of the story.
Of course, you already knew the rest of the story. The 2009 Washington Redskins were a deeply dysfunctional football team, which is why Mike Shanahan is now the guy taking Portis’s requests for benchings.