Albert Haynesworth Isn't Loafing

A month ago, back when Sunday's Rams-Redskins game was still a while in the future, St. Louis center Jason Brown took a little shot at Redskins defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth's conditioning, saying that Haynesworth is the kind of player who checks out when the going gets tough.

You won't hear Brown saying anything like that this week since he's going to have to block Haynesworth, but it is worth asking? Does Haynesworth take a lot of plays off? That was the worry when the Redskins signed Haynesworth to a massive contract in the offseason -- would he stop playing all out now that he's been paid?

As we mentioned earlier this week, Haynesworth played more than 70 percent of Washington's defense's snaps in the opener against the Giants, so it's hard to say that he was begging out of playing time. And when he was in there, he gave a good effort. Especially when it comes to pass rushing, it's pretty easy to tell when a player is out of gas and giving no effort. They can just stand at the line, move their feet a little bit and get in a stalemate with the offensive linemen.

In watching Haynesworth's every snap against the Giants, I saw only one pass play where he took the play off and just stood up at the line. There was also one running play the other way where Haynesworth jogged in pursuit, instead of running at full speed. That's two snaps out of 45 plays. That's two more than you want to see, but it's not a bad effort for a 350-pounder.

So when Brown says that Haynesworth can't handle the heat, it may have been true in the past. But one game into his Redskins' career, he's given a solid effort. We'll see if the heat of D.C. changes that this weekend.