Step aside Ndamukong Suh–there’s another player who is being declared the dirtiest, and it isn’t the Detroit Lions defensive tackle this time. Instead, Washington Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather is being called the dirtiest player around, something he isn’t attempting to hide. Meriweather found himself under fire on Monday after he said he wanted to injure other players to the point that their careers would be over.
Brandon Meriweather "To be honest, you've just got to go low now..You gotta end people's career. U gotta tear people's ACL's." #Redskins
— Chris Russell (@Russellmania980) October 28, 2013
“To be honest, you’ve just got to go low now,” Meriweather said. “You gotta end people’s careers. You gotta tear people’s ACLs, mess up people’s knees. You can’t him them high anymore. You’ve just got to go low.” Ironically enough, a torn ACL is what ended Meriweather’s 2012 season.
This is coming from a guy who just served a one-game suspension for dirty hits in the Redskins’ 45-41 loss to the Bears last Sunday. Meriweather received personal foul penalties for helmet-to-helmet hits on Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall. Apparently, tearing ACLs to end a player’s career isn’t savage enough for Meriweather. Check out his hit on Jeffery below.
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“Guys like that really don’t understand that there is life after football,” Marshall said of Meriweather’s helmet-to-helmet strikes. “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.”
In case you think Marshall is being too harsh, don’t think for a second that this is the first time Meriweather has had such hits. Just last month, he was fined $42,000 by the NFL for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Packers running back Eddie Lacy. See the hit below.
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Now that Meriweather has made it crystal clear what he thinks his job on the field is–to end careers–it will be interesting to see if the NFL responds, or at least keeps him on a tight leash. Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan tried to play down Meriweather’s comments earlier, but did point out that his NFL career would be over if he didn’t change things.
“Well, I’m not sure if I would have used those choice of words. I think I would have used different words, obviously,” Shanahan said. “Now those safeties have to go lower and it’s just part of the game. Nobody’s going to try to hurt anybody, but if you’re going to err on the side of caution, you would rather go low than you would high. Brandon knows that he’s got to go lower or he’s not going to be playing in the National Football League.”
“Err on the side of caution,” coach? It doesn’t sound like that’s remotely what Meriweather is doing. Do you think Brandon Meriweather should be kicked out of the NFL? Respond below. Quite a few Twitter users are outraged with his comments.
@BMeriweather31 is a joke as an athlete and belongs no where near a football field
— David Kavanagh (@dkav9) October 28, 2013
Brandon Meriweather, you can either adapt to the game or pay the consequences. No one wants to hear it. #DontBeThatGuy
— david ferber (@theferbinater) October 28, 2013