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Washington Redskins SS Brandon Meriweather was fined $42,000 for a hit against Green Bay Packers running back Eddie Lacy in week two. While most of us would quickly learn from a $42 thousand dollar mistake, Meriweather continued to play with his head. And by ‘head’ I mean ‘helmet’.
The NFL suspended Meriweather for two games for repeated violations of the leagues helmet-to-helmet policy for hits on Chicago Bears receivers Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery during the October 20th game in FedEx. Meriweather appealed and the league reduced the suspension to one game.
Brandon Marshall was vocal after the 41-45 loss to the Redskins.
“Guys like that really don’t understand that there is life after football. I respect the league trying to better our game and guys like that, maybe he needs to get suspended or taken out of the game completely.“
Brandon Meriweather responded to Marshall by telling the Washington Post:
“Listen, everybody’s got their opinion of things, you know. Everybody’s got their opinion. He feels like, you know, I need to be kicked out of the league. I feel like, people who beat their girlfriends should be kicked out of the league too.”
“You tell me who you’d rather have: Somebody who plays aggressive on the field, or somebody who beats up their girlfriend. Everybody’s got their opinion. That’s mine. He’s got his.“
Talk about a low blow bringing up Marshall’s past of alleged repeated domestic violence incidents. Marshall defines the term ‘bad-news Bears’! Look at his rap sheet from the Chicago Tribune.
And just when you thought that was the final blow in the Brandon fude, Meriweather continued with how he would change his future game plan for the NFL.
“To be honest, you’ve just got to go low now. You gotta end people’s careers. You gotta tear peoples ACLs. Mess up people’s knees. You can’t hit them high anymore. You’ve just got to go low.”
Easy! Knees are a sensitive subject in Washington. But Meriweather does have a point here. Yes, it sounds horrible, but he was being honest. In the first eight weeks, 54 players have gone on injured reserve with lower leg injuries and that number will only increase as the season goes on. Thirty of those injuries were torn ACL’s. In 2011 only 25 players were placed on IR for ACL injuries. (ESPN stats & info.) If defensive players are being forced to only go low to make plays, franchise players will be at a higher risk for season and career ending injuries until the NFL’s competition committee can evaluate the increase in ACL and lower leg injuries in the off season and develop new rules to protect the lower half.
Either way, knocking someone out on purpose or taking out a player’s knee on purpose is still a low blow!