ESPN.com: NFL

[Print without images]

On the Denver Broncos' very first day of training camp, high in the Rockies at the University of Northern Colorado, 20-year-old Clinton Portis may have stepped over the line into the area called arrogance. The rookie running back from Miami was standing next to Terrell Davis, Olandis Gary and Mike Anderson -- the Broncos' royal line of recent running backs -- when the coaches waved the starters onto the field. Portis, despite the extraordinary company he was keeping, had to be physically restrained from running out there. Later, he shrugged and quietly acknowledged that it wouldn't be long.

He was wrong, of course. It was more than seven weeks before the Broncos made him their starter.

	Portis is sixth in the league with 1,228 rushing yards.

Portis has called Ray Lewis, the Baltimore Ravens' extraordinary linebacker, "nothing special." He has called out the Indianapolis Colts' Edgerrin James, the running back who carried the Miami Hurricanes before he did. He has, uh … .

"The guy has confidence," says Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe, who has led the league in that category for years. "If you didn't know any better you'd swear Clinton has been around here for about seven, eight years, because the way he talks clearly lets me know that he thinks he's been in the league a lot longer than I have."

It only just seems that way.

Portis is the primary reason the Broncos are still a factor in the convoluted AFC playoff picture. Denver had lost three straight games and four of their previous five when Portis stopped the bleeding. He scored a franchise-record-tying four touchdowns in a 31-24 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs to lift the Broncos to 8-6 with two games left to play. With the Raiders and Chargers losing, all things remain possible.

Portis was spectacular, confirming his candidacy for the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year. With no apologies to Panthers defensive end Julius Pepper and the Colts' defensive end Dwight Freeney, Portis is unquestionably the league's best rookie, period. Against the Chiefs, he ran 21 times for 130 yards and caught three passes for another 75. That, calculus majors, is 24 touches for 205 yards and four scores.

For the season, Portis is comfortably positioned among the league leaders. He's carried 237 times for 1,228 yards - the league's sixth-best total. His 12 touchdowns are also tied for No. 6 on the list, along with Buffalo's Travis Henry and San Francisco's Terrell Owens. There is quality in the quantity, too. His 5.1 yards-per-carry average would be the third-best figure ever for a rookie after Franco Harris (5.6) and Barry Sanders (5.3).

Late in the third quarter, Portis produced -- based solely on style points -- the play of the season for the Broncos. He took a short swing pass from Brian Griese and then seemingly made half of the Chiefs defenders miss him. Safety Shaunard Harts was paralyzed with a juke, as was cornerback William Bartee, linebacker Marvcus Patton waved and missed and then Harts was held off with a muscular stiff arm as Portis rode into the end zone with a 66-yard reception. Speed. Finesse. Elusiveness. Power. What more is there?

How about toughness?

After navigating those heart-stopping 66 yards, Portis struggled to the sidelines. Later, he told coaches he was suffering the dizzying effects of the flu.

"I wasn't going to tell anybody," Portis said later. "But after I went 66 yards, I had to tell somebody. I couldn't breathe anymore."

A different model
In 1995, a Georgia rookie named Terrell Davis, found himself seventh on the Broncos' depth chart for running backs. He was a sixth-round draft choice -- the team's second in the round -- and he wound up running for 1,117 yards. Under first-year head coach Mike Shanahan, the Broncos began to find themselves, a combination that would take them to back-to-back Super Bowl victories.

The Broncos, however, had an answer: Olandis Gary. Another rookie Georgia running back, Gary was the team's fourth-round choice in 1999. He, too, rushed for 1,000 yards in his first season -- 1,159 to be exact. When the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee was torn in 2000, Denver turned to another rookie running back, Utah's Mike Anderson, like Davis a sixth-round pick. He, too, cleared 1,000 yards. Anderson's 1,487 yards and 15 touchdowns in 2000 confirmed that Shanahan's scheme and the Broncos' offensive line were the most important factor in those bottom-line numbers.

Last season, the Broncos used all three of the former rookie standouts to staff the backfield. Davis, still not himself, bravely led the team with 701 yards, followed by Anderson's 678 yards and Gary (fractured fibula) modest contribution of 228 yards.

With Davis headed toward retirement, Anderson moving to fullback and Gary's status uncertain, the Broncos used their second-round choice, the 51st overall, for Portis. He had run for 1,200 yards and led the Hurricanes to an undefeated season and the national championship as a junior and would have been splitting time at tailback with Willis McGahee this season. The pros looked like a good option.

Portis told Miami coach Larry Coker that he was the draft's best runner, better than Boston College's William Green, who went No. 16 to the Browns, and T.J. Duckett of Michigan State, who was drafted No. 18 by the Falcons. He was, we now know, right.

And so, Portis became the third Broncos rookies to rush for 1,000 yards in four seasons. This rookie, however, is different from the prototype. At 5-foot-11, 205 pounds, he is relatively light compared to his forerunners. Instead of pounding straight ahead, he slashes and runs away from people.

"He's a true home run threat," Sharpe says. "That's something that none of the guys we had before could say."

Portis has an additional advantage.

When Portis scored a touchdown in the second preseason game, he gave Davis a signature Mile-High Salute as he came off the field. Davis, in turn, hugged Portis. The bond that has evolved between them could propel Portis beyond anything and everything that Davis has accomplished.

Davis is done as a Bronco -- he's technically on injured reserve -- but his locker is only a few feet from Portis. They talk a lot.

"Am I cheering for Portis?" Davis told Denver Post columnist Mark Kiszla. "Always."

Says Portis, "You know what we've got? It's hard to explain why we're tight, unless you've ever been hit by a linebacker. Why let all your wisdom go to waste? Give it to somebody else. That's what T.D. is doing. He doesn't feel threatened. He wants me to succeed.

"There is only one T.D. I want to be C.P."