NFLPA says Brandon Meriweather ‘sorry’ for comments

According to the NFL Players Association, Washington Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather is “sorry” for the comments he made this week.

“I spoke to Brandon,” DeMaurice Smith, the NFLPA’s executive director, said in a written statement released by the union. “He is passionate about the game, and I know he is sorry for what he said. He is concentrating on helping his team win the rest of the season. Brandon knows that all players have a responsibility to each other and to play within the rules of the game.”

Meriweather said Thursday at Redskins Park that he’d spoken to Smith but declined further comment.

Meriweather, coming off a suspension imposed by the NFL for illegal hits, said Monday that “you’ve just got to go low now. You’ve got to end people’s career. You’ve got to tear people’s ACLs and mess up people’s knees now…. You can’t hit them high any more. You’ve just got to go low.”

The league originally suspended Meriweather last week for two games, with the penalty being imposed one day after Meriweather was penalized twice for illegal hits in a game against the Chicago Bears. Meriweather appealed and had his suspension reduced to one game by appeals officer Ted Cottrell. Meriweather sat out the Redskins’ loss last Sunday at Denver.

Meriweather also suggested Monday that Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall perhaps should be banned from the league for his off-field conduct. That came in response to Marshall, who absorbed one of the hits for which Meriweather was penalized, saying that Meriweather needed to be suspended or “taken out of the game completely.”

Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett said Thursday that he expects Meriweather to make the appropriate adjustments to his playing style when he returns to the lineup.

“Brandon is a good guy,” Haslett said. “He’s a good person. I don’t think he’ll do anything that’s gonna harm the football team. He said something out of emotion, the way he felt. But just knowing Brandon, the way he practiced yesterday, he’ll stay within the rules and try to do what’s best. He’s not gonna hurt our football team.”


(washingtonpost.com)