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Fletcher, McNabb named captains Inside linebacker London


Fletcher was again selected as a team captain on defense, quarterback DonovanMcNabb received the honor on offense and Lorenzo Alexander on special teams, but Alexander only for the season opener against the Dallas Cowboys, CoachMike Shanahan said Thursday after practice at Redskins Park. At the bye week, the


Redskins will vote for an additional offensive and defensive captain, Shanahan said. “Those four guys will be the captains for the rest of the year.” Players elect the special


teams captain for the first week. For the first eight games, the special teams player of the week will serve as the captain for the following game. The team votes again at the midway point for a special teams captain who will hold the position for the remainder of the season.


Carter sits out practice Outside linebacker Andre


Carter sat out practice because of an illness. “He was sick. Some little


virus,” Shanahan said. “He should be ready to go tomorrow.He just didn’t feel very good; upset stomach.He got up early in the morning and we just kept him out.” . . . Rookie linebacker Perry


Riley (foot) is improving, Shanahan said. “He didn’t practice but he got a lot of work done.”


Who will return punts?


Veteran cornerback Phillip Buchanon has averaged 9.1 yards on punt returns in his career and scored three


touchdowns. Rookie wide receiver Brandon Banks returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown during the preseason. So who will return punts


Sunday night against the Dallas Cowboys at FedEx Field? “I don’t know,” Buchanon


said with a smile. “You have to ask coach.” When pressed by reporters, Buchanon seemed to indicate he would be the guy against the Cowboys. “I’mgoing to try to calmmyself, try to deal with it and take what they give me,” he said. “Not try to do too much; just take what they give me and run with it.” Banks, who experienced ball


security problems during the preseason, has taken reps in practice returning punts and kickoffs. “I just want to go out there and get a game undermy belt and get used to the way the NFL works. And hopefully contribute,” he said.


Dallas short-handed Cowboys right tackleMarc


Colombo will miss Sunday’s game, according to reports, which should be good news for Redskins’ linebackers rushing the edges. The Cowboys’ line is the


weak link in its offense and the Redskins will face it at a good time. Dallas will also be without starting left guard Kyle Kosier, who’s still recovering a knee sprain.MontraeHolland will get the start at left guard and Alex Barron will likely replace Colombo at right tackle.


Quarterback Tony Romo


was sacked 34 times last season, an average of 2.1 per game. In five preseason games, Dallas quarterbacks were sacked 16 times, an average of 3.2 per game. —Jason Reid and Rick Maese


EZ SU K


KLMNO PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL Portis decides it’s time to shape up redskins from D1


plified the change as much as Portis. He was a recurring prob- lem for Coach Jim Zorn and his staff, opting not to fully partici- pate in practicesandvoicing criti- cism of the offense and his block- ers.


“It’s hard to really play as a


team when you really don’t feel you’re a team,” said offensive tackle Stephon Heyer. “When you’ve got guys doing their own thingandnot really putting in the work as they should, it’s hard. When you’re doing the work you should and you think another guy’s not, it does have an effect. This year he’s a lot different. He’s definitely putting in the work and the time.” Throughout the offseason,


training camp and preseason, Portis has been active in practice, engagedinmeetingsandoptimis- tic about what the coming season holds — not just for him as a runner, but for the entire team. “It’s like a family,” Portis said of


this year’s squad. “In previous years past, everybody went home. When people left from over here, they went home. It was like, ‘I’ll see you tomorrow at work.’ Com- pared to now, you can catch nu- merous groups of guys — five or six guys — out together, having dinner, hanging around, shooting pool, bowling or doing some- thing. I think it’s just a team vibe all of a sudden.” Sitting out the final eight


games of last season because of a concussion gave Portis a lot of time to reflect on his place in the Redskins organization. “I think it gave me a chance to


go out, take a look in the mirror and realize [what] things [were] my fault, some of the things I was doing wrong and the person I needed to beandwhat I needed to do to come back and be a part of the organization,” he said. “Honestly I didn’t feel like I


was doing nothing wrong but telling the truth. But at the same time, I got to the point of, I could’ve been a better teammate. I could hang around. What’s the rush formeto get to work and get out of work? Do the things that everybody else do.Everybody else come out here and workout, they get it done. . . .Why can’t I?” Something had to change.


Even before suffering the concus- sion midway through last season, Portis’ numbers had declined sharply. He enters Sunday’sgame with just one 100-yard perfor- mance in his past 13 games. At 29 years old, he appeared to be a step slower. But Portis is noticeably trim-


mer than last season, he’s taking more repetitions in practice and has worked harder on condition- ing than in recent years. “I feel, when we was younger,


when we was in college, that was the approach he had to take,” said receiver Santana Moss, a college teammate of Portis’s. “You get into the league, and you start doing things without having to take those measures, you kind of get used to itandsay, ‘Hey, I didn’t work out last year and rushed for 1,500 [yards].’ You can’t fault a guy for that, you know what I mean? “Hewas one of those guyswho


ROSS FRANKLIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS


DonovanMcNabb is starting his first regular season game for the Redskins, but he’s earned enough respect to be named captain.


was proving that, ‘Hey, when I didn’t do anything, I still went out there and played good foot-


FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010


JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST


Running back Clinton Portis, now 29, says he grewup a little this offseason, deciding he wanted to shun the spotlight, be a better teammate and prove he hasn’t lost a step since missing half of last season.


ball.’ By making him do what he done this year — they didn’t really have tomake him, they just said what they wanted — and he was here.” A big part of Portis’s new atti-


tude can be attributed to Shanah- an. Portis had his two best sea- sons playing under Shanahan and running backs coach Bobby Turner in Denver. They didn’t have to twist his arm to sell Portis on the benefits of following their instructions. Portis says he pre- fersShanahan’s approach to prac- tices,whichkeepshimout of pads and keeps him from taking hits in the days leading up to games. “I actually was telling some-


body the other today, I actually feel younger at this point than I


did in a long time,” Portis said. While Shanahan promised


players that if they don’t practice, they won’t play in games, Portis had to prove himself to coaches and fend off challenges from Lar- ry Johnson and WillieParker, free agents brought in to compete for the starting job. Portis says he doesn’t mind that most of the buzz surrounds other players on the team, that other players are featured prominently in advertis- ing materials. He long ago gave up on trying


to make everyone happy. “You can’t satisfy people,” he


said. “Formyself, I’mcontent, I’m happy with what I’ve done over my career. I thinkmy teammates arehappywith the things Idoand


what I bring to the game. That’s really all that matters.” Of course, Portis has had simi-


lar revelations in the past. On Sunday, Redskins fans will learn whether Portis’s new approach and his commitment to Shanah- an’s offense pays dividends on the field. Despite all the offseason change at Redskins Park, Portis is still the team’s top runner. “Having this opportunity to be


center stage, I think it’ll be a great time to show that I’m still here,” Portis said of Sunday’s game. “Al- though you all want me to be forgotten about, I’mstill here.”


Staff writers Jason Reid and Tarik El- Bashir contributed to this report. maeser@washpost.com


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