Portis talking big

I got an interesting e-mail late last night about Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis’ upcoming appearance on the BET sports talk show “Ballers.” Portis taped an episode that is set to appear Tuesday at 11 p.m. The show is hosted by former NBAer John Salley, former NFLer Hugh Douglas and comedian Guy Torry.

A partial transcript was emailed out last night and here is the one quote that jumped off the page. Asked about the Redskins’ outlook in 2007, Clinton said …

“I think this year we’re going to make a lot of news. We went out and got what we needed. I actually think this will be our year. We’re going to be in the NFC championship game. I guarantee that. Whatever that takes, we’re going to get there.”

Translation: Portis is back to being his usual confident and loquacious self. But the NFC title game? Probably shooting a little high, but I like his candor.

Portis, who missed half of last season with shoulder and hand injuries, was also asked if the game had passed Joe Gibbs by.

Portis said: “Time is knowledge. I think Coach Gibbs is one of the most knowledgeable people you’ll ever meet. I think there’s a lot of people when you are losing, they are going to point the finger at everybody. Coach, myself, Mr. Snyder and anybody else they can point it at. Once you are winning, Coach Gibbs is a genius. So we just got to win for Coach.”

* In another Redskins related take, I found Gibbs’ comments about the absences of Sean Taylor and Shawn Springs interesting. Neither has shown up for the team’s “voluntary” practice sessions this week. Gibbs said he has had “no contact” with Taylor and had “lost contact” with Springs.

I find it unbelievable that the coach and team president of an NFL team would have trouble making contact with two of his standout players.

With Taylor, it’s one thing after another and now he’s again unhappy about his contract for the 142nd time in his short career. If I’m the Redskins, under no circumstances do I start talking a new contract with Taylor until after this season. This would allow the Redskins to see if Taylor develops into a player worthy of a mega contract.