Albert Haynesworth was in the starting lineup for the Buccaneers on Sunday, just four days after Tampa Bay picked him up off waivers from New England, and he said after the Bucs’ loss to the Texans that he was unaccustomed to so much playing time.
“I was a little bit tired, but that was the most plays I’ve played all year,” Haynesworth told the Tampa Tribune. “When I was in New England, it was hard. You play like three or four plays and then you sit for a quarter. It was hard to get into a rhythm.”
Of course, the reason the Patriots didn’t give Haynesworth much playing time is that he rarely looked like he was playing hard. But on Sunday Haynesworth had a very impressive first game in a Buccaneers uniform, blocking an extra point and making five tackles.
And Haynesworth even tried to provide some veteran leadership, rallying the troops when they got down and saying he’s trying to instill a winning attitude.
“I see the talent we have,” Haynesworth said. “But what we do is, we’re a young team. Instead of letting a bad play go and wiping it out of your mind and going to play football, we let it pile on, we keep thinking about it and the result is another bad play. Our head coach came in and said blame it on him, but he didn’t play a snap of football. We have to take responsibility.”
Both on the field and off, this appears to be a different Albert Haynesworth than we’ve seen in the last couple of years.