Given what has happened to Andray Blatche today, I guess it was fitting that one radio host asked whether Blatche was more reviled in Washington D.C. than Albert Haynesworth. Hey, we all need to fill radio time. I get it. But if one actually believes something like this, I encourage you to read Matt Terl's transcription of Mike Shanahan's interview with Larry Michael. (Obvious caveat: it's Larry Michael and the team's official site doing the interview. But still).
Shanahan tells Michael about one of his early meetings with Haynesworth, when Haynesworth bluntly said that he didn't want to play in a 3-4 defense. Shanahan then proceeded to show Haynesworth game tape of him not trying as hard as he could in the Redskins' 4-3 sets in 2009. Haynesworth's response is kind of funny in retrospect.
"So I looked at about a hundred plays with Albert, and [out of] those hundred plays, there were about fifty of those plays where he was going about half speed. I said, 'Well, you tell me you like the 4-3 defense, yet you're not playing very hard in THIS 4-3 defense.'
"He said, 'Well, it's not the same defense that I had in Tennessee.'
"I said, 'I understand, but you said you wanted to play in a four-man front. This is a four-man front. So sometimes you have to adjust to a scheme.
Shanahan then said that if Haynesworth wanted the Titans' scheme, he would release him and not give him his $21 million roster bonus. Haynesworth took the money instead and sulked all year before finally getting suspended.
Ladies and gentlemen, that's why Albert Haynesworth will forever be the most hated athlete in this town.