Phillip Daniels paused, his eyes started to water his words tough to find. He was choking up. At the end of an a nearly 10-minute brutally honest conversation about Albert Haynesworth, Daniels came to a bottom line and a realization. He’s friends with Haynesworth; he’s also 37 and desperate for a title.
“I’ve been through 15 seasons and I ain’t won [anything],” he said, before pausing for eight seconds. “So what I’m saying is, if I can come out and do this, don’t tell me you can’t do it….”
He paused again; more water; more lumps in the throat. Five seconds later he continued.
“I want every guy on this team to do well,” he said. “If you ain’t all in, you don’t need to be here. I’m tired of going through season after season where we lose games we should win, guys not doing the right thing, guys not putting the effort in. I’m tired of that. The Redskins, we deserve better as a team and as fans. We got a coach in here [Mike Shanahan] now that’s proven himself. He can win Super Bowls. Guys have to believe in what he’s doing. If you don’t believe in what he’s doing, then you don’t need to be here. And I’m speaking for everybody now. We’ll get through this man. I’m just upset that I spent 15 years of my career and I ain’t won [anything].”
He also talked about:
On how others feel: “Guys feel the same way, man. I’m just a guy. I’ll tell you the truth and I’ll tell you how it is. I’m not going to hide behind anything. I’ll tell you how I feel. I would love for things to work out with him. You know how much he can help us. If he put everything he had into football. I’m talking about the workout part of it, the weight room, the studying, he had into football. He would no doubt be the NFL player of the year.”
On if a guy like Haynesworth can change at this stage of his career: “He was in his seventh year when he got here. I heard that from other guys that played with him, Randall Godfrey, Joe Salave’a. I talked to all those guys. They all said the same thing. I don’t know how much guys change. Your DNA follows you in a lot of ways. I saw things yesterday that I was disappointed in and I truly don’t want to sound like I’m bashing a guy or anything like that.”
On if he’s surprised to still be dealing with the Haynesworth saga: “Things were going good for a moment. Things were going great. He was out there playing and doing well. It’s always something else. I just wish the team could stay focused and not worry about things like this. When I come to the locker room on game day I expect guys to be ready to go and play. As a D-linemen, when you lose one of your guys it’s tough on us. You have to scramble and guys have to go to those positions and fill in. I just hate that it happened.”
On reports that Haynesworth could be cut: “It’s crazy, man. For a guy with all the talent and what he can do for this team, we want him to come in and help us win. The distractions are just not healthy. We would love for him to be here and do the things he can do. We saw what he can do on the field when he wants to; he’s had great games this year. At the same time he has to understand this is a business, people are putting money into you to come out here and do a job, to work and every play give it everything you’ve got. They pay you to come out and play football. Everything outside of that is not called for. When he looks back on all the things that happen, I’m not speaking as if this happens, then it would be a bad feeling for him to have gone through this and not put all this effort in. Me as a player, when someone is paying me money, I don’t care what amount they’re paying me I feel like you go on that field and give them everything you got. They expect you to do a job and that’s what you do, you go out and do your job. Me I take my job serious no matter what I make. It’s more the person, to go out there and do what you need to do. Albert needs to understand it’s a business. They don’t care when you’re gone. The thing is, what you did for them right now and the things right now is more important and your teammates are more important than all this stuff that’s going on with the organization right now.”
On if he’s talked to him today: “I haven’t sat down with him. But we’ve had conversations with him. London spoke with him. … Albert’s a great person; I’ve hung with him. He tries to, for the most part, fit in with the guys and we go out to dinner, eat lunch, hang out. Great guy. He just needs to think about what he’s doing for the football part of things and know that people are counting on you. Not the coaches, not the organization, but your teammates are counting on you. That’s what I play for every day, my teammates. That’s the part of the game that slipped by [Haynesworth].”
On if Haynesworth let them down: “He let himself down. But in the process of letting yourself down, you let your teammates down in a lot of ways. I don’t think Albert ever bought into a 3-4. He spoke at times that he was good and he wanted to come in and do some things. He came in and everything was going so smoothly. Then the practice stuff, that kind of stuff. You’ve got to practice. That’s the problem with this team for a while now; guys not wanting to practice; guys not wanting to put forth the effort to help this team be better. If you don’t practice, you don’t play well. That’s been proven.
“Really, truly, I think everyone on this team is tired of talking about it. It drags you down. It doesn’t do anything for us in football. I’ll always care about Albert because he’s a guy I’ve been around and talked to and had good conversations with. But when you come to football it’s a business and that’s the side he has to understand.”
On having the same conversations last year: “I think times change, but certain people don’t and that’s how it is. Last year when I had this conversation I was saying guys need to practice and do what they need to do on the practice field. I haven’t missed a practice this year and I’m 37 years old. So why these young guys getting nicks and bruises and they feel like they have to miss practice? You can’t do that and win games. If I can do it at 37, then I know you can do it at 20-some. Everyone can do it.”
On if Shanahan didn’t put the team first by benching Haynesworth: “I think it’s the other way around. I think he puts the team first because he won’t let one guy come in here and destroy what we have. You put the team first when you think about the future and the things we have to do. If you don’t practice, you don’t play and that’s putting the team first and giving us the best chance to go out and be successful. He has to understand that. Coach Shanahan is doing a good job of that. He knew what we were missing last year. He knew we missed a lot of practices. The first thing they looked at when they came here, I bet, was how many practices everyone missed. You’ve got to change something. You can’t just sit there and keep letting it happen. That’s what he’s trying to do.”
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