Jim Haslett and Albert Haynesworth Should Get Along Nicely

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↵We all owe a debt to Dan Steinberg for archiving the oral history of NFL coaching wackiness. Yesterday, outgoing Redskins assistant Joe Bugel shared with him a memorable yarn about the time former Hog Russ Grimm vomited a hot dog during practice, only to pop the sucker back into his maw.↵↵Now, with the Redskins having signed Jim Haslett, the former New Orleans Saints coach last seen a few weeks back leading the Florida Tuskers into the UFL title game, to their vacant defensive coordinator position, Steinberg must ensure that the new guy’s potential for anecdotes is up to snuff. Among the stories and quotes dug up from over the years was one of the less classy moments from his playing days: the time Haslett purposely stepped on Terry Bradshaw’s head in the 1979 regular season finale.↵

↵↵⇥“The bad thing is I’m from Pittsburgh and when I was growing up, Jack Lambert and Terry Bradshaw were my idols,” Haslett said. “Anybody who has asked me if I did it on purpose, I would say I slipped or something. But the truth is, I knew if they scored again we were never going to beat them. So one of the players accidentally ripped his helmet off, and his head was exposed so I kicked him. It wasn’t the best thing to do. My family was getting into fights in the stands. I couldn’t go home for a couple off-seasons.”↵↵↵Since Haslett later served as the defensive coordinator of the Steelers in the late ‘90s, I think we can safely assume the hatchet was buried at some point. At least with the organization. In all likelihood, Terry Bradshaw might not even remember the incident. Nonetheless, that’s a startling bit of honesty, even many years after the fact.↵

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