Washington Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather has been suspended for two games by the NFL for his aggressive headhunting during the team’s victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, but that punishment apparently isn’t good enough for one Bears player.
Tight end Martellus Bennett, who has become well-known in the city for his eclectic tastes and his brutal honesty, had some interesting things to say about Meriweather on Monday afternoon during his weekly radio hit on 670 The Score’s Boers and Bernstein Show.
"He’s a scumbag," he told the hosts. "I still want to punch him in the face."
Bennett’s anger is well-founded. During the game, Meriweather not only hit Alshon Jeffery in the facemask on a crossing route, but also went in elbows-first at Brandon Marshall’s neck in the end zone. After the game, Meriweather was joking around with teammates about needing money for dinner because of the impending fines for his play, and the NFL likely took that cavalier attitude into consideration when they decided to suspend him for two games.
Bennett wasn’t done either in criticizing Meriweather.
"What it comes down to, at the end of the day, the players have got to look out for the players," he said. "There’s a way to go out there and be a beast when you hit people, and have nobody want to come across the middle. But then there’s a way not to do it, where you’re deliberately hitting guys (high) or after the game you’re saying ‘Oh, I’ve got to pay,’ because you know what you did was wrong when you were doing it. Then it just becomes wrong."
Bennett wasn’t the only Bears player who called Meriweather out after the game. One of the guys the safety hit was Marshall, and he didn’t mince words when discussing the play with the Chicago Tribune. "Guys like that don’t really understand that there is life after football,” he said. “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."
Meriweather is expected to appeal the suspension.
