While he’s a little late to the party, Warren Sapp is the latest media member to bash Albert Haynesworth about the way he has handled his contract situation with the Redskins this offseason.
From the Washington Post:
Let’s stop the BS, like we like to say,” Sapp told Vic Carucci and Howard Balzer on SiRIUS NFL Radio. “I mean, c’mon, son. You sat at the table. The people told you they had a very lovely check for you….Albert Haynesworth, you took the check, now show up to the job, son. It’s that simple. You take that kind of check. I mean, I’ll flip dogs for you. I mean, c’mon, what you want me to do, you want me to return punts? I mean, what? C’mon. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.”
Then Sapp was asked whether Haynesworth should be considered a dominant defensive tackle when he’s playing and healthy, possibly the best defensive player in the game.
“No. No. No,” Sapp said. “He’s not consistent enough. The numbers aren’t there. I mean, I saw the four plays in a row playing the Atlanta Falcons when he was on the goal line, he looks like a manchild. Some of those games he was running, him and [Kyle] Vanden Bosch, they really had that defense rolling. He was playing the game the way it was supposed to be played.
“But you can’t tell me that a man that has, what, [28] sacks in his life is one of the most dominant players to ever play this game. I mean, I don’t remember that game where he took it over, you know what I’m saying? I remember me and Brett Favre up in Green Bay going at it in the playoff game. I don’t have that signature game for Haynesworth. I don’t have that signature season. Don’t give me one. That’s a rule of ours, isn’t it? I mean, one’s a fluke. Two, you become consistent. Now three, you’ve arrived. I don’t think the man’s had a 10-sack season. I mean, Tony Dungy told me when I was playing the game, he said you want to be arrived in this game, you’ve got to get to 10 sacks. That’s what I tell all young defensive tackles, you want a name in this game, rush like an end, and then you get in the conversation.”
I agree that Haynesworth isn’t the most dominating defensive players to have ever played the game, but let’s not shortchange him because of his selfish attitude. While I think the Vikings’ Kevin Williams has been a better overall defensive tackle than Haynesworth over the last three years, Albert is still one of those rare DTs that can play the run and provide a solid pass rush. And while other players may outperform him in a given year (take the Falcons’ Jonathan Babineaux and the Ravens’ Kelly Gregg in 2009 for example), he’s still a dominating force when healthy.
While I think he’s shooting from the hip a bit with his comments, Sapp does have a point about Haynesworth not having a signature game to his credit. There hasn’t been one time where Haynesworth has completely taken over a game, unlike Sapp, who was outstanding for many years in Tampa.
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