Haynesworth happy to be back in mix

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By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.comFOXBORO -- It was a quiet day on the stat sheet for Albert Haynesworth. All goose eggs except for one quarterback hit. But individual numbers aren't the measure for defensive linemen. You really have to watch the infighting as it unfolds and look at team numbers for the opposing offense. And on Sunday, those numbers came up looking pretty good for the Patriots. Haynesworth, after two weeks off with a back issue, was a welcome re-addition. "It felt great to get back out there and to not hurt," Haynesworth said when asked how he felt after his layoff. Having him on the field for a game against the Jets -- and Haynesworth didn't start; Kyle Love and Vince Wilfork were the defensive tackles -- made an impact at least in reputation. He's one of the best in the business at being big, mean and powerful, even when he's not 100 percent. So the Jets weren't going to bully him with their "ground and pound.""I like that," he said when asked about the Jets' bullish approach. "The run's the easiest thing to play. Rushing the passer is hard. I like (dealing with the run). They want to run at me that's great. I hate the run aways. But run at me, that's great." Haynesworth said it was cramps that caused him to take a knee in the second half and walk slowly to the sidelines. He also said the defense remains a work in progress. "Even though the core of the defense is the same, we still got new pieces," he pointed out. "Me, Andre (Carter), Shaun (Ellis)so we need time to jell. We didn't have a minicamp or an offseason so we just have to let this defense jell and once we do, we'll become a good defense. We know we got the talent, we got all the parts, we just needed to put that together and that's what we did, we had to focus." The Patriots' focus falls next on Dallas.
Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran

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