Campbell fires back at Portis

Washington Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell blasted Clinton Portis for his poor work ethic and lack of understanding about "what real leadership is," responding to Portis' comments earlier in the day about Campbell.

Campbell, selected one of six team captains by teammates the last two seasons, called out Portis for putting himself above the team and, in his opinion, an overall lack of professionalism Portis has exhibited in Campbell's five seasons in Washington.

"How is he going to say I'm not a leader?" Campbell said in a lengthy phone interview. "I mean, that's just not true. To me, that's somebody who shows that they don't know what a real leader is. A leader is not someone who leads by the wrong example. A leader is someone who is trying to do the right thing and trying to lead by example, and not just [being] about themselves. There's a reason guys get selected as captains, and there's a reason guys don't get selected as captains. Obviously, he doesn't have the respect of the locker room to be a captain. For someone to try to take a shot at me at the end of the season, after they haven't even been around, only speaks about their character anyways.

"There have been a lot of things I could have come out and said. But I never went out of my way to make those things known. I never wanted those things to leave the locker room because it's no one else's business. And for those things to be said, questioning my character and questioning my leadership, I think that's not the way to go, especially when you're supposed to be a team guy. Is that being a good teammate? If that's the case, why is no one questioning my leadership and everyone is questioning his work ethic? Everyone looks at that. I'm not going to get into an argument; I don't even like talking about stuff like this because it makes no sense and it doesn't help the team, but I'm going to speak my mind on it when this is what he's saying about me."

Portis's seemingly cozy relationship with owner Daniel Snyder has stirred resentment in the locker room because he rarely practices. Campbell is "not ready for that situation," Portis said of the quarterback's captaincy. "I think Jason has enough trouble in getting the plays in and worrying about this, compared to controlling the huddle and making sure, 'Oh, we do this and we do that.' But you go and vote Jason Campbell [as captain] -- you know Jason Campbell ain't go and tell the coach, 'Well, we need to do this or we need to do that,' or 'This is how the players want it.' The only person I think would do it is London Fletcher."

Campbell said the comment pointed to Portis' obliviousness to the facts, Campbell said.

"We [all the captains] do go to the coaches. It's not our fault if the coaches decide they're not going to [do what the captains suggest]," Campbell said. "But we have some guys who go above the coaches. And that's another problem. You have some players who are not team players.

"They don't do the things teammates do to help each other. And then at the end of the season, when it's been a hard season, you want to point fingers at other people because you're upset about your own shortcomings? You're upset because you get into it with your teammates because of what you do?"

During a 16-13 victory Oct. 4 over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Portis went to coaches in an effort to have Pro Bowl fullback Mike Sellers demoted for what Portis deemed to be poor blocking. Sellers eventually confronted Portis during a heated locker-room exchange in which no punches were thrown, team sources said, but Mike Sellers essentially told Portis his teammates did not respect him because of his me-first approach.

"Not one time have I come out and made any excuses about anything with my situation," Campbell said. "I never do anything to try to hurt my teammates. Some people need to stop being 'me' guys and start being 'we' guys. And another thing, and I want you to write this, too, how does he even know what's going on with our team?

"How's he [going to] question anything when for those four or five weeks before he was on IR [the season-ending injured-reserve list], he never even came around. He wasn't with us. He was never at practice. Who does he think was holding the offense together? He should go ask the coaches and the players if he wants to know. But he wasn't around to do that. He doesn't know anything about leadership."

Campbell said he was disappointed about airing private team matters in public, and especially frustrated that Portis would verbally attack him with the Redskins apparently close to making a long-anticipated announcement that former Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan has been hired as their next head coach. This is not the type of thing Snyder, General Manager Bruce Allen and Shanahan need to be confronted with at a time like this, but Portis left him no choice, Campbell said.

"You've got guys out there working their butts off, guys out there practicing and doing everything they need to do to prepare for Sundays, and you see him over there getting special treatment," Campbell said of Portis. "What does that say about him? I go out, I get beat down on Sundays, and I still have to go out and practice and get ready for games. And that's what your supposed to do.

"If you're about your team and trying to help your team, if you're not about yourself, you deal with the pain and that's what you do. What makes it so different for others? I mean, this is what's wrong with our team. Instead of a guy coming to you if he has a problem, instead of going to talk to the person, you go speak out loud in public. How does that help? How does that help the team?"

Click here to order Clinton Portis’ proCane Rookie Card.



(wahsingtonpost.com)