Albert Haynesworth played on Sunday against the Rams as part of a deep defensive line rotation. He failed to record a tackle, but played well enough that he wasn't a target of the post game blame storm; which is sort of a win for him. As Jason Reid reports, he just had a normal day as an NFL defensive tackle.
Haynesworth did not start and but was a key member of the line rotation, especially with third-string nose guard Anthony Bryant sidelined because of a concussion. Haynesworth was not used to rotating much during his all-pro seasons (2007 and '08) with the Tennessee Titans and last season with the Redskins. "That's just way we do it, and we do that in practice," Haynesworth said. "I'm getting better at it."
Reid had more from Haynesworth:
"We're coming into a new defense, and we've just got to feel comfortable with ourselves in this defense," Haynesworth said. "We've got to rely more on the scheme and figure out what we need to do ...
"I mean, I'm fine, playing nickel in the 4-3 and stuff like that," he said. "I'm just gonna try to get after it no matter if a start or don't start. ... It's not up to me [how much he plays]. Whenever they put me in there, I'm just going to try to help the team as much as I can."
If I didn't know any better, I would have never guessed those comments came from Albert Haynesworth. But maybe that's because at this point, I'm just expecting him to do the most damaging thing possible at all times. It's almost refreshing to see him make an at the very least neutral contribution on the field, and a positive one to the team's media relation. Any time he just sort of blends in with the crowd, is a newsworthy event in and of itself.
So far, this season has been a mix of attention drawing antics, and boring forgettable play for Albert Haynesworth. One minute, he's making a slave reference in regards to his enormous contract; the next, he's filling the role the coach's are asking him to, and sounding like an actual factual team player in post game comments. He certainly keeps it interesting, even when he kind of doesn't.
Obviously the Redskins would like to get more out of the highest paid defensive tackle of all-time, but at this point I think they'll be happy if he just falls in line.