Pro Football Doubletalk

We missed the initial to-do over the scene depicted here, wherein Albert Haynesworth mills around enormously in the vicinity of a defensive meeting, but it's since become something of a Rorschach that determines if you're a sensible human being or Mike Florio.

During the Cowboys-Redskins game, either Al Michaels or Cris Collinsworth or maybe both of them smarmed about how Haynesworth seemed to be boycotting a defensive huddle. The football media never miss an opportunity to call Albert Haynesworth a fat malcontented turd, and this seemed so very telling — the cheese stands alone! — until it turned out to be not telling at all. Here's Florio, walking things back a little:

A league source explained to us on Monday that Haynesworth wasn't boycotting a meeting of the full defense. Instead, the huddle involved linebackers and defensive backs, and no defensive linemen.

That's great — Pro Football Talk using its access to provide context, a full picture, something beyond the lazy pretend clairvoyance of reading complicated human emotions in a guy's posture on a television screen. Oh, wait:

That said, Haynesworth's demeanor at the time suggested that he wouldn't have been in the meeting even if it involved every player, coach, and club employee — and if free food and beverages were being served. Also, it's possible that Haynesworth has projected that same demeanor on other occasions, when coaches were trying to gather the defensive linemen for further instruction.

Close readers will note that Florio is supporting this point with the same kaleidoscoping dumbassery he just refuted, and then throwing in some more speculative bullshit for good measure. Sigh. The first week of football season is where good sense goes on the PUP list.

A closer look at the Haynesworth photo [Pro Football Talk]