Brandon Meriweather sees opportunity

FOXBORO - Brandon Meriweather was a first-round pick by the Patriots [team stats] in 2007 who had the advantage last year of learning the ins and outs of playing NFL defense from veterans including cornerback Asante Samuel [stats].

But Samuel has moved on as a free agent to Philadelphia, and it was only natural that Meriweather, a second-year defensive back, was asked yesterday if he would miss his former teammate.

Meriweather looks at Samuel’s departure philosophically. As a friend, yes, absolutely, Meriweather was going to miss Samuel. But in the ever-evolving world of the NFL, it was stretching things to suggest he was going to “miss” a guy who signed for big money with the Eagles.

“It’s going to be a little different, but at the same time we have new players and every year on every team there are new players,” he said. “That’s really it.”

But substitute “player” with “friend,” and Meriweather takes a different attitude.

“Asante’s a good friend of mine,” he said. “We’re both from South Florida. He’s a great player and all, but he’s also a great person . . . of course I miss him as a person. But this is a job, and he had to go handle his business.”

During his talk with the media yesterday, Meriweather was asked if he agreed with Pats coach Bill Belichick’s assessment that players often show their greatest improvement in their second season. Meriweather responded by making a run at the world record for most usages of the term “opportunity knocking” without stopping for air.

“Opportunity is knocking,” he said. “It’s not just because I’m a second-year player I feel like opportunity is knocking. Last year, opportunity was knocking. Year before that . . . whenever you’re a part of something, opportunity is knocking.”

Asked if he has watched a tape of the Patriots’ 17-14 loss to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII, he replied, “Not yet,” then he added, “I think that’s a good game to learn from. But right now, the primary focus is on this year, and the focus is on getting better.”

Talking a bit more about the Super Bowl loss, Meriweather said one thing he learned was “capitalize on mistakes. I think me, myself, personally that’s something I need to do better . . . the little things, the details, and capitalize on other mistakes.”

“Right now,” he said, “my challenge is to learn my playbook and get good chemistry with my teammates.”

(bostonherald.com)