Morning Links:

Boise State Upsets Virginia Tech At “Neutral” Site: Last night’s game between the two top 10 teams proved that Boise State is for real, and that Virginia Tech might not be ready to challenge for the ACC title this season. The Broncos came out with an early lead capitalizing on all of Virginia Tech’s miscues. While Tech battled back, they couldn’t keep the Boise State offense in check. I know there are a lot of naysayers out there who think that Boise State shouldn’t play for a National Title because of the weakness of their conference, but the fact of the matter is every time they go up against a big non-conference opponent they end up being the better team. If the Broncos can keep it up and remain undefeated I really don’t know how you keep them out of the National Championship game.

Albert Haynesworth Saga Continues: One would think this would be over, considering that around the league Tom Brady, Chris Johnson, and Darrell Revis all missed significant time due to holdouts/unhappiness with their current stituations. And yet no trade rumors or daily infighting with the coaching staff occurred. Why the Haynesworth-Shanahan battle is such big news is shocking, especially since unlike Revis, he didn’t actually holdout, but rather skipped voluntary workouts. Now would it have been the best for the team for Haynesworth to be there for voluntary workouts; yes of course, but how long can you hold a grudge? Tom Brady missed the majority of his team’s voluntary workouts and his role as a quarterback is a bit more important to be working with the young receivers and tight ends. Yet despite missing all those workouts, and potentially setting the team back ect. the Brady ‘Saga’ never really got off the ground. And as for the argument that Haynesworth is a $100 million man and should be in here for all the workouts, completely ignores that Brady’s last deal was for $100 million, but he front loaded it and is now unhappy with the current payments. Somehow we have gotten to the point where complaining about how many millions you make in a year is more acceptable than whether or not you are being unfairly punished and forced into position that you don’t particularly want to play.

Now the rumor is that the Redskins are once again talking to the Titans about Albert Haynesworth for a deal, but Tennessee is bulking at the price. I’ll tell you what, they can balk all they want, but Haynesworth is worth 2 1st round picks (and actually then some, but I know that won’t happen). Even if they swing that deal though, it would be bad for the Redskins for two reasons. It would significantly hurt the Redskins playoff chances this season, (not sure if the coaching staff noticed, but the majority of times this preseason the Redskins got pressure in the backfield it was because of Haynesworth) as it would completely weaken that defensive unit. Secondly, since playoffs are out of the picture it would mean that the draft picks you gave up for Donovan McNabb were a huge waste, since it set back your rebuilding effort. Also, it would make the signings of guys like Larry Johnson and Joey Galloway look a bit more ridiculous. What’s even worse than that is the Redskins have sapped all of the Haynesworth’s value by continuously picking fights with him, punishing him, etc. Now it is at the point that they won’t get near full price for him. And remember because the Redskins have paid so much upfront money to Big Al, his deal for a new team is a steal. He is owed just $15+ million over the next 3 years which is a well below market value. If the Redskins give him up for anything less than the equivalent of 2 first round picks (and for the record Kenny Britt doesn’t count as equivalent value) then they will have blown this trade.