It seems the Washington Redskins’ Brandon Meriweather still just does not get it. For the sixth time—sixth–he has been suspended by the NFL for a helmet-to-helmet hit.
This time, the hard-hitting safety was banned for the first two games of the season for an illegal hit on the Baltimore Ravens’ Torrey Smith in the second quarter of Saturday’s 23-17 preseason loss, continuing a career-long pattern of getting in trouble for his tackles.
Meriweather was suspended for two games last season but after he won an appeal it was reduced to one game.
After the game, Meriweather said he did not think it was a helmet-to-helmet hit.
“No, I don’t. But at the same time, I’m not the one who wrote the book on penalties,” he said. “I tried to aim at his numbers. I kind of seen the pass go, and I went in and aimed low, and I hit him with my shoulder. I did everything my coaches taught me to do, and I got the flag.
“I’m trying to do what the NFL asked me after going through the offseason, and working on the things I need to work on, and the first chance I get, it seems like I failed.”
The NFL has fined Meriweather five times for illegal hits to defenseless players over his career, including a $42,000 fine for a hit on Green Bay’s Eddie Lacy last season.
After a hit on Chicago wide receiver Brandon Marshall last October, the NFL suspended Meriweather for the first time.
He will not be allowed at the team’s facility or have any contact with team personnel from Sept. 1 until Sept. 15. Meriweather has three days to appeal the decision.
In a statement, the NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said, “Meriweather delivered a forceful blow to the head and neck area of a defenseless receiver with no attempt to wrap up or make a conventional tackle of this player.”
