I could kind of understand why Mike Shanahan felt it was necessary to put Albert Haynesworth through the seemingly never-ending series of conditioning tests over the Summer. He was new to this team and he needed to make sure that his players understood that he was the captain of the ship.
Albert Haynesworth was the highest paid member of the team and therefore the easiest target. Knock him down a few pegs, and show the team that anyone can receive that type of punishment. Or at least that was the idea. We can't be entirely sure, but it looked like it worked for a little while there.
Haynesworth was humbled a little bit, accepted his role, and for a while there, we kind of forgot about him. He certainly wasn't playing up to his contract, but he was playing with a pretty good amount of effort (save for the whole lying down during the Eagles game thing) and he wasn't the focus of every Monday article I had to write on this website. Those were good times.
But now, Shanhan is back to his old tricks. Raking Haynesworth over the coals either for being a few minutes late if you listen to Albert, or for having a bad week of practice if you listen to coach; or even a combination of both. So my question to Mike Shanahan is, was it worth it?
During the Summer you were trying to make a point. What is the point now? Now it just seems less like you are trying to exert your control so much as holding a grudge. Again, I don't know the specifics of what happened before Shanahan benched him, but I also don't know what it was supposed to accomplish, and as Phillip Daniels said, it may have been a distraction.
I understood what Coach Shanahan was doing in training camp, and even defended him to a degree. But now I just don't see the point.
Today's must-reads from around the SB Nation network:
- Hogs Haven with an agonizing recap of Sunday's game against the Giants.
- Federal Baseball with reaction from the Winter Meetings on the signing of Jayson Werth.
- Testudo Times recaps Maryland's game against Temple.
Today on SB Nation D.C.: Scott Jackson with the latest of edition of Redskins' Chain Reactions. Spoiler Alert, it's grim.