Cover-2

Albert Haynesworth on reality

Maybe Albert Haynesworth should just give up on football and start hitting the cable networks for his own reality. One thing is for sure, the fellow knows drama.

Haynesworth is the Redskins defensive lineman with the $100 million contract who skipped off-season practices, needed 10 days to pass a training-camp conditioning test, and has been feuding with new Redskins coach Mike Shanahan since. During a question-and-answer session Thursday, he came up with this eye-popping explanation as to why he has only one sack this season:

"I'm not good enough to play the 3-4," Haynesworth said - a striking statement inasmuch as he's on record as wanting to become the greatest defensive lineman in NFL history.

This season, instead of being the starting nose tackle - as was envisioned when the Redskins switched to the 3-4 scheme - he is playing mostly in nickel packages. When asked if he wants to be a starter, Haynesworth kept it real:

"I would like to start and start playing like I used to," Haynesworth said. "But right now I'm fine with it."

Bills linebacker Aaron Maybin's once-promising NFL career has hit a new low. After spending the past two seasons struggling to get playing time as a backup, the team's 2009 first-round pick now can't even get on the field. Maybin was left inactive, for the first time in his career, for Buffalo's game at Baltimore last weekend.

"That's probably been the most frustrating experience since I've been here," Maybin said this week. "I wouldn't necessarily call it a wake-up call, but it's definitely an eye-opener."

Either way, the benching marked the latest step back for a player who has struggled in helping make a difference for the NFL's only remaining winless team, and on a defense that's one of the league's most porous.

Coach Chan Gailey offered this mordant observation: "Oh, he's upset. He should be. And, hopefully, it'll generate better production the next time he gets an opportunity."

Tough talk for someone whose team is 0-6.

The Green Bay Packers' newest nose tackle has finally joined his team, but it took some doing.

Howard Green was cut by the New York Jets on Tuesday and that afternoon began the long drive to his home near Baton Rouge, La. After about 20 hours on the road, stopping only for food and fuel, he was almost home when the Packers called him.

He caught an evening flight out of New Orleans, but weather delays forced him to spend the night in Atlanta, and, when all was said and done, he was several hours late for Thursday morning's practice in Green Bay.

And now the kicker: The Packers play the Jets in New York this weekend.

Exactly 100 days before the Super Bowl, Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman aren't expecting much from their old team.

"To be done before you get out of the month of October is pretty shocking," Aikman said during a to-do at Cowboys Stadium to mark Dallas' hosting the Super Bowl this season.

Staubach was a little kinder. "I still feel we can be a respectful team the rest of the year," he said. Ouch.