Redskins put focus back on football with Haynesworth gone

ASHBURN, Va. -- Mike Shanahan smiled, joked, looked positively giddy at times. He even allowed reporters to watch an entire Washington Redskins regular-season practice for the first time, daring them to brave the 21-degree wind chill. It was hard to tell he has a team that's 5-7 and out of the playoffs.

That's what happens when the weight of eight months of Albert Haynesworth drama is lifted from a coach's shoulders.

Shanahan on Wednesday discussed his decision to suspend the two-time All-Pro defensive tackle without pay for the rest of the season, a move that brought a sense of relief to Redskins Park that a long-running soap opera of a distraction is finally over.

"I was going to share the conversation Albert and I had, but since he wouldn't talk to me, I couldn't share that conversation with you guys," said Shanahan, opening his post-practice remarks with a bit of dry humor. "So that was a little tough."

Inside, Haynesworth's locker was cluttered as usual, with a towel, cleats and clothes. A shirt was draped over the front, obscuring the nameplate so all that was visible was "ORTH 92." The team's weekly schedule sat on the stool, a useless piece of paper for a player who won't be around.

For at least one more day, however, the player who wore No. 92 was the talk of the team, as he has been for countless days since the team began offseason workouts in March. The battle of wills between Shanahan and Haynesworth got to the point where it was probably for the best that the two not share the same building, something that's now assured for the final four games.

"Albert probably don't care," cornerback Carlos Rogers said, pointing out the Redskins paid Haynesworth $41 million. "I don't think he'll miss $800,000."

Haynesworth might indeed get to enjoy a relaxing December, having played just 20 games for a team that signed him last year to a seven-year, $100 million contract with $41 million in guaranteed money. He is appealing the suspension, which would cost him $847,000 in salary if upheld, but he no longer has to concern himself with fitting into a defense in which he was "a square peg into a round hole," to use defensive coordinator Jim Haslett's words from earlier in the season.

Shanahan gave a more detailed play-by-play Wednesday, and it came to a stark conclusion: Haynesworth was impossible to please.

"He didn't like the 4-3 defense a year ago," Shanahan said. "He didn't like the base defense. He didn't like the nickel defense. He didn't want to play nose tackle, didn't want to play defensive end (in the 3-4 defense). We got him playing the nickel package, first and second and third down. He didn't like first- and second-down nickel, wanted to play third-down nickel in passing situations. Hey, it was just time. It was just time to go in another direction."

The suspension, officially for "conduct detrimental to the club," is the most emphatic statement yet that Shanahan is indisputably in charge in his first season with the Redskins. Gone are the competing agendas of years past, when owner Dan Snyder and departed front-office head Vinny Cerrato would share or diminish a coach's authority or question his decisions.

"I haven't even discussed this situation with Dan," said Shanahan, a stunning statement, given Snyder's history of hands-on ownership.

That's the kind of control a coach can get when his history includes two Super Bowl titles with the Denver Broncos.

"You've got to do it his way or you won't be here," special teams captain Lorenzo Alexander said. "He just suspended a guy that's making $100 million and is probably the best at what he does, so what it's to stop him from doing this to anybody else on the team?"

Rogers was asked how Shanahan's I'm-the-boss style has affected the Redskins' locker room.

"Some people are scared," said Rogers, who then laughed. "Not in a negative way, but he says it all the time: The teams that he's been on, Super Bowl teams and the experience that he's had in this league coaching, it's always everybody's together on one page. And if you're not, you're going to be out of here. That's his evaluation, especially for these last four games."

The Redskins have conceded that they're out of the playoff race, having lost four of their last five games. They agree Haynesworth was a distraction they could have done without and that the defense would have benefited had he committed himself to being an every-down player in the scheme.

"It was a lingering distraction. We had to talk about it constantly," Alexander said. "I wouldn't say it's good that he's gone, it's more that the situation is over with. We wanted him to play. He's a beast."

Shanahan said Haynesworth wouldn't follow coaches' instructions at practices and games. For quarterback Donovan McNabb, the conflict had a familiar ring: He was with the Philadelphia Eagles when coach Andy Reid suspended outspoken wide receiver Terrell Owens in 2005.

Asked if Haynesworth will do push-ups for television cameras in his driveway -- the way Owens did -- McNabb laughed and said: "No, I don't think so."

"The relief of the whole deal is the fact that it could possibly be over," McNabb said, "and we can focus on what we have to do, instead of answering questions all the time."

Shanahan wouldn't comment when asked if there was any way Haynesworth could be on Washington's roster next season, although that seems highly unlikely. The coach said he waited this long to suspend Haynesworth in hopes things could be worked out.

"I really had a pretty good relationship with him," Shanahan said. "It was never argumentative. Pretty good for the most part. Lot of drama, obviously, with all the press coverage. But when someone dictates when they go in, when they won't go in, that just was a little bit too much for me."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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Helmet technology is focus at NFL injury prevention conference

NEW YORK -- Helmet manufacturers, scientists and concussion experts met at a ballroom one block from the NFL's office Wednesday to evaluate leading technology in concussion-preventing equipment during a gathering of the league's Head, Neck and Spine Medical Committee.

The meeting was focused on providing a platform for manufacturers to present their data on various models of helmets -- some with information-gathering sensors inside; some based on transferring heat from inside the helmet; one model with a soft rather than hard shell -- and then the doctors on the committee spending the rest of the afternoon assessing the merits of each. The helmets all were designed to reduce head trauma in different ways, while trying to become lighter, better-fitting and safer at the same time.

"There are different approaches, that is clear," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who sat in on the meeting.

This session was another step in trying to make the game safer at all levels. The doctors on the committee expressed optimism that substantial gains in helmet safety will be made within the next 10 years, and they expressed enthusiasm about the pace and commitment of science and medicine in regard to assessing and preventing concussions.

Much remains to be learned about how individuals vary in regards to concussions, with the doctors assembled here pointing to certain genetic predilections being at work, perhaps, in some cases to explain why some players bounce up from violent collisions and others suffer concussions from what appear to be far more innocuous hits. Committee member Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz mentioned several times the need to gather more information on concussions by "positional change," and that one design of helmet might make better sense for a receiver, for instance, and another for a lineman ("different helmets by position," as he put it).

As much as some theories and science differ as to the nature of concussions in football and their exact origins, the five member doctors who met the media Wednesday were in agreement on which types of plays were potentially the most dangerous. "One place we agreed on was helmet-to-helmet hits," said Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, a co-chair of the committee.

There also were military and NASCAR doctors present to apprise the committee of the latest developments in sensor technology. Helmets used by those organizations allow doctors to monitor vital signs and collect important data that can be used in studies and research to foster further development.

Goodell said he believes the league's attempts to issues stiffer fines and discipline for illegal hits to the head and neck area -- an issue that several players and coaches have criticized -- are having an impact in curbing that kind of behavior.

"We're getting to the point where people are understanding what we're looking for," Goodell said.

The commissioner also pointed to the stricter return-to-play guidelines for NFL players as having an impact and also said that several team doctors present at the conference told him they have noted several instances this season where players were held out of games when they would have been allowed to play in years past.

The committee doctors also were asked whether or not they believe the league should have an official helmet sponsor -- currently Riddell (one of the several companies represented Wednesday) is the official helmet of the NFL, a right for which it pays. Goodell pointed out that NFL players are eligible to use any helmet that meets government standards set by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment and that the league puts this sponsorship money into further helmet research and testing.

Competing companies pointed out, however, that Riddell is the only logo that can displayed on any NFL helmet -- players who wear other models don't have the name of the company on the outside of it. Critics have pointed out that with science still inconclusive on any particular helmet model being the most safe, having an official helmet might send mixed signals.

Dr. Hunt Batjer, a committee co-chair, said his "preference" would be for there not to be an official helmet sponsor (Riddell's contract expires in a few years), and Dr. Robert Cantu echoed, "At least in my opinion, it's not a good thing." Dr. Ellenbogen pointed out that decisions such as that were made at a level above the committee's jurisdiction.

The committee also includes Dr. Thom Mayer, the Medical Director of the NFLPA, and former players such as Dallas Cowboys fullback Darryl Johnston, a current NFL Network analyst.

Former Buffalo Bills defensive back Mark Kelso was a representative with one of the helmet manufacturers present. Kelso sustained numerous concussions during his eight-year NFL career and is remembered for the additional soft shell he wore on top of his regular helmet ("The Great Gazoo Helmet," as Kelso refers to it).

Kelso's group is marketing a soft-shell model of helmet, which also includes a composite, lighter face mask. It's technology similar to the helmet addition that Kelso wore, but more state of the art and with the padding forming the entire helmet. There is a harder sheath on the upper level, but the helmet is heavily cushioned and couldn't be used as a weapon in a collision the way a normal helmet could.

This model hasn't yet been approved by NOSCAE, the equipment governing body, but Kelso said the expectation is that will come in the spring. This technology absorbs contact rather than displacing energy during a collision. Kelso said that "independent research" shows when an object in the soft helmet (called The Gladiator) has a helmet-to-helmet collision with an object in a normal helmet, "the energy is displaced more safely for both players."

Dr. Mayer said that the soft-shell technology was "intriguing," but added that term could be applied to all of the presentations that were made Wednesday.

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