ASHBURN, V.A. - Amid questions and rumors about the nature of the conditioning "test" Albert Haynesworth has failed in each of the last two days, the team made Strength and Conditioning Coach Ray Wright available to the media to clarify some things about the examination.
Wright confirmed that the "test" is a set of two 300-yard shuttle runs in 25-yard increments (i.e. 25-yards up, 25-yards back six times). An offensive or defensive linemen needs to finish the first set in under 70 seconds, then gets a three and a half minute break before having to do it again in 73 seconds. On Thursday, Haynesworth passed the first segment, then took a 10-minute break instead of the three-minute break.
"What happened the other day was, he didn’t have to do three [reps]," Wright said. "He ran the first rep, and then he had to use the restroom. You get three and a half minutes. He was gone for close to 10. So I gave Albert the option to run it again. My suggestion was just to wait until the morning. He wanted to run it again, so we ran it again [and failed]."
Wright said that Haynesworth ran the first set in 71 seconds today and therefore did not get a chance to attempt the second rep. He will take the test again tomorrow morning.
Wright also clarified why Haynesworth is the only player on the team that has to take the "test."
"It’s actually not a test for everybody on the team. The guys that were under 50 percent [participation in OTAs] were notified that they got to get over 50 percent, or there’s a test. I think Andre Carter was close, Rocky McIntosh was close, so we let them know. [Now], they’re over 50 percent. But our team is so high – we’re 90.4-percent [participation] as a team – so nobody was in danger of having to do a test," he said.
However, when asked whether this was then a "Haynesworth test," Wright said "No, it’s not a Haynesworth test. It’s a test for anybody under 50 percent attendance or less. He was the only guy."
Mike Shanahan talked briefly about the test as well, calling it a "minimal" test that his players go through "all the time."
"Our guys go through this all the time. This is not even a big test. This is something we do every day," he said. "Most people can do this test in their sleep, so it’s not as big as it may sounds."
Yesterday, DeAngelo Hall said he didn't think a lot of people who were here even at 100 percent could pass the test. However, defensive lineman Phillip Daniels disagreed, saying he thinks that "everybody that's been here" could have passed.
" But you have to train for it," he said. "You have to know it’s coming, and you have to train for it. I don’t know how long he knew before he got here that he had to do that test, but he’ll pass it. I have confidence in him.
Daniels added that he felt the test gets harder each day because of the wear and tear on your body. However, Wright disagreed.
"What [Albert’s] doing is learning how to run it," he said. "There’s a pace you have, a certain kind of tempo you have to have for each 25 yards. I expect him to pass it pretty soon. I don’t know when, I can’t give you tomorrow or two days, but once he familiarizes himself with it, I think he’ll pass."
Wright closed by saying that he thinks Haynesworth "might have" been able to pass the test on Thursday if he didn't take a 10-minute bathroom break, reiterating that's the only reason he had to start over.
"He could have gone and ate a hamburger," Wright said, "[as long as] he came back within 3.5 minutes."
(I know, I know, a fitting choice of words).