Albert Haynesworth next in line

We all called it a low-risk, high-reward move by Bill Belichick. That’s what bringing aboard Albert Haynesworth was on the surface back in July.

What it turned out to be was a colossal failure.

Five days before the biggest game of the season against the Jets, the Patriots [team stats]’ archenemies and chief rivals, Belichick bounced Haynesworth, the poster boy for all that has gone wrong and all the doubts about the team going forward.

Our last vision of Haynesworth was the defensive tackle getting stood cheap jerseys up by Giants guard David Diehl as Brandon Jacobs blew by him en route to a 10-yard touchdown in the third quarter. And this man was propped up to be a potential solution to an anemic pass rush.

Now he’s sitting there like a dead weight. It’s one more in what’s become a long line of recent personnel decisions that haven’t worked out for Belichick.

There’s no question the Pats coach and chief decision-maker rolled the dice when he sent a fifth-round draft pick in 2013 to the Redskins for the hulking lineman in July. Haynesworth was a gamble, and it was understood this was a guy you really shouldn’t bet the farm on.

Fine. But isn’t that how it is with wholesale jerseys most players Belichick brings in to try to fix what’s broken?

Haynesworth is one of many castoffs and rejects from other teams brought here to solve a problem. Now he’s one more that didn’t get the job done.

He was supposed to be part of the solution for putting more heat on opposing quarterbacks. It didn’t work. Haynesworth couldn’t change his spots. Not even for Belichick.

It used to be Belichick could get something out of guys with baggage, or in this case a rap sheet like no other. Given how Randy Moss had dogged it in Oakland, the suspicion was he was done. Same with Corey Dillon [stats] in Cincinnati. Only, when they came to Foxboro and drank cheap jerseys from Belichick’s tub of Kool-Aid, they initially were good soldiers and reverted back to their prime form. Dillon was good for a Super Bowl his first year, and Moss was good for a record-breaking season with Tom Brady [stats].

For a fifth-round draft choice and a restructured deal for Haynesworth that only cost the Patriots a mere $1.5 million in base salary, Belichick would have gladly taken one year of vintage Haynesworth. Even semi-vintage Haynesworth.

He got neither. He got three tackles and no sacks in six games from the former All-Pro.

He also got a public relations nightmare when the mammoth lineman cheap nfl jerseys arrived, given that exhaustive police record and the fact Haynesworth had to deal with a pending court case that stemmed from sliding a credit card through the cleavage of a waitress.

But even getting past his personal garbage, and waiting on him through court appearances, a bad knee and back, and just plain being out of shape, it might have been pushed aside if he simply was able to play.

Even the scheme was changed to 4-3 partly because it was better suited to Haynesworth as a defensive tackle. With Haynesworth and Vince Wilfork [stats] on the interior of the line, the thinking was they could collapse the pocket and wreak havoc with opposing offensive lines, and in turn, cause problems for opposing quarterbacks.

That dream scenario never really materialized, only in glimpses. Both Kyle Love and Gerard Warren proved better options than Haynesworth when it mattered. And how damning was it that when the defense needed a stop in that fourth quarter against the Giants, Haynesworth was nowhere to be found? Poor play and a sideline spat with defensive line coach Pepper Johnson pushed the envelope. Belichick had seen enough.

Back in the early weeks of the season, Haynesworth had vowed it was cheap jerseys time for the sleeping giant to awaken. He loved Belichick, the system and what the Patriots [team stats] stood for. He left yesterday still in a slumber.

In the past, Belichick could pick guys up off the street, work his magic, put them in positions to succeed, and it all worked. Now, not so much. He doesn’t seem to be able to pick the right guys, sign the right free agents. draft the right rookies, and get them to do what he needs most.

Haynesworth was a bust. Chad Ochocinco, the so-called answer as a third receiver, has been a bust. All the virtual no-names in and out of the secondary have yet to work.

Yes, Belichick gets points for cutting Haynesworth loose and not keeping a mistake around any longer than necessary. It’s probably better for the guys in the locker room that way. Only, this is a symptom of a greater problem. The methods that used to work for Belichick haven’t hit pay dirt as much anymore.
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Haynesworth merely is the latest example.[code]