Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Surprise, Surprise...

ESPN's Matt Mosley, on defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth's Redskins debut:

Sorry, but when you make $41 million guaranteed, one tackle for a loss doesn't cut it. Haynesworth is supposed to be a disruptive force in the middle of the defense but for the most part, Giants guard Rich Seubert did a nice job on him. I just kept watching Haynesworth limp off the field. Not a great debut.


Some of you may recall me flipping my shit when we acquired the face-stomping, pole-wielding player this past February. The main basis of my concern was that having landed a once-in-a-lifetime contract with the Skins, Haynesworth's motivation to play his hardest in every game might disappear. It's a scene we've witnessed time and time again and if his first game is any indication, then we might have to add Haynesworth's name to a lengthy list of high-priced failures.

As for the game itself, it was pretty much what I expected. The 23-17 scoreline in favor of the New York Giants was probably a poor reflection of how the game actually went; it was never really that close. The Redskins' next three games set up pretty favorably, you'd have to say, as we face the Rams at home, followed by the Lions on the road and the Buccaneers at home. Although we struggled against bad teams last year (losing to the Rams & Bengals and narrowly winning against the 0-16 Lions), if we look bad against St. Louis this Sunday, we'll have a real cause for concern. While it sucked not to win the first game of the season, the loss was in no way an indictment on the rest of the extremely-young campaign.

1 comment:

  1. I think Mosely's a too bit harsh on Haynesworth. I was also against signing him, and have similar concerns about the big contract and other issues you mentioned in your previous post.

    However, he was injured and hardly played/practiced in the preseason (which will hopefully resolve the conditioning problem that skins insider referenced), and he is going up against arguably the best O-line in the NFL.

    Like you said, the real tests come in these next several games, where he should absolutely wreak havoc on their lines. If not, well then we have serious problems on our hands.

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