Clinton Portis admits he and Sean Taylor drank Hennessy before games

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Former Redskins running back Clinton Portis shed some light on an interesting pregame ritual involving him, the late Sean Taylor and Santana Moss on Tuesday.

Portis, who played for the team from 2004-10, recently spoke to NBC Washington’s Carol Maloney in a candid interview, which Moss was present for as well.

In it, Portis revealed that he, Taylor and Moss would take a shot of Hennessy cognac before games while playing for the Redskins.

“Prior to the game, on our way, we would take a little shot,” Portis said.

He continued:

“Not like going out and getting sloppy wasted, just adrenaline,” Portis said. “You know, you take a shot and you were done with it. Me, Santana and Sean, we did this for a year and a half before anybody knew. We never told anybody. It was just, hey, here’s a little sip, bam, that was it.”

Portis did add that the pregame ritual wasn’t an issue when Joe Gibbs was coaching the team. However, when Jim Zorn came in to replace Gibbs, the ritual was magnified a bit, much to the dismay of Portis and Moss. Zorn outed the players for taking “sips for Sean,” which didn’t go over well with some of the Redskins players. Moss even noted that that’s when Zorn “lost a lot of us,” which is interesting, because he only lasted two seasons as the team’s head coach.

It’s interesting that this piece of information has since emerged, as last month, Browns receiver Josh Gordon admitted that he had been drinking alcohol before games. It turns out that he’s not the only one to have performed that particular pregame ritual prior to hitting the field.

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