Whose fault was the Albert Haynesworth debacle?
The blame game has Albert Haynesworth winning at 60 percent with Mike Shanahan and the dynamic duo of Dan Snyder/Vinny Cerrato each earning 20 percent. Congratulations Albert — your grand prize is a lifetime trip out of town.
The Washington Redskins suspended Haynesworth on Tuesday for the final four games of the season for detrimental conduct. It’s one thing to dog it and not listen to coaches, but Haynesworth earned sanctions for, according to general manager Bruce Allen, refusing to speak anymore with coach Mike Shanahan. The Redskins rightfully considered that insubordination and cause for action.
This isn’t the Jim Zorn era where players ran the asylum. By ignoring Shanahan, Haynesworth was telling teammates not to follow the coach. That can’t happen. Maybe the timing of it — the team’s declining playoff hopes and the fact that only four games remain in the season — were coincidental to the largest suspension possible under the labor agreement. But simply put, the Redskins and Haynesworth just couldn’t co-exist anymore.
In fact, they never should have been together in the first place. And four people are responsible for causing this disgrace.
First, Haynesworth bears the majority of blame despite his “I just want to play” mantra. He never finished the sentence with “my way” but that’s what he meant. Sure, Haynesworth was double-crossed when he came to the Redskins. They had a 4-3 defense and changed the scheme a year later. But let’s be honest, he came for the $41 million guaranteed.
Haynesworth’s words never matched his action. He said Shanahan was the boss, but ignored directions. Haynesworth didn’t attend offseason camps to learn the system. He didn’t arrive at training camp in condition. He didn’t learn the 3-4 or even show much effort.
Haynesworth thought this was last year when the owner backed him while ignoring coaches. But Snyder — now finally in the background — never stepped in to provide Haynesworth with a necessary attitude adjustment. All adults do things they’d rather not do in the name of work, but Haynesworth refused like a petulant child who thought pouting would work.
Ultimately, this was Haynesworth’s fault. But he’s not alone.
Shanahan should have dealt Haynesworth for anything he could get — both in the preseason and at the midseason trade deadline. At least Washington would have received something for him. By then, Shanahan should have known this was unmanageable.
Asking Shanahan to cut Haynesworth in his first two months on the job was too much. Like all coaches, Shanahan figured he could get the player to buy into the system. It also would have been a real slap at the team owner to cut a marquee player before even trying to work with him, especially when it would have involved Haynesworth leaving with $41 million of Snyder’s money.
Maybe Shanahan shouldn’t have been such a hardliner with Haynesworth. Then again, that probably wouldn’t have worked anyway.
Finally, Snyder and Vinny Cerrato never should have signed Haynesworth and certainly shouldn’t have frontloaded most of the money to lessen Haynesworth’s incentive. A bad signing and bad contract, which is why Cerrato is gone and Snyder returned to the business side.
Ultimately, the scoreboard reads another loss for Washington … again.
Examiner columnist Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail [email protected].
