The roots of the University of Miami playing tree - dubbed "The U" by those fortunate enough to have been Hurricanes - extend far and wide, and the Ravens and Washington Redskins, who meet Sunday night at M&T Bank Stadium, are just as fertile as other teams.
But as much as Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Ed Reed and Redskins running back Clinton Portis can bask in their college association, those good vibes won't mean much as Lewis, Reed and the NFL's third-ranked run defense trying to put the clamps on the league's second-leading rusher in Portis.
"I haven't even thought about that," said Reed, who played on the 2001 Miami national championship team with Portis. "I love playing against our guys, but that's it."
Portis was similarly neutral about meeting his friends again.
"We've got to go out and find a way to win," Portis said as a guest on The John Thompson Show on 980 AM on Tuesday. "It's not about being caught up in the Beltway Brawl or 'Oh, we're playing the Ravens, and they've got Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.' We've got people, too. We've got to find a way to go out and play."
Whether Portis will help the Redskins achieve that goal is unclear. Portis did not practice yesterday, and his status is expected to be a question mark all week.
He is dealing with a left knee he sprained in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 3, an oblique he pulled in a win over the Seattle Seahawks on Nov. 23, and a sore neck he jammed in a loss to the New York Giants on Sunday.
Redskins coach Jim Zorn sounded noncommittal about whether Portis or backup Ladell Betts would be the starting tailback Sunday night.
"Clinton's got a real sore neck," Zorn said during a conference call yesterday. "He took a shot in the game, and the back of his neck is real sore. His knee is not great. He's beat up a little bit. I can tell you that."
If Washington - which opened the season 6-2 before losing three of the past four - harbors any hope of earning a wild-card berth in the NFC playoff race, the team will need a healthy and effective Portis.
Despite gaining just 22 yards in the 23-7 loss to the Giants, Portis ranks second in the NFL with 1,228 rushing yards, behind only the Minnesota Vikings' Adrian Peterson (1,311 yards). Portis leads the league in yards from scrimmage (1,415), total first downs (70) and rushing first downs (61).
