Statement comes in aftermath of suspension for Meriweather.
Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett has insisted that he wants to “punch Brandon Meriweather in the face” after his continuous illegal hits.
The NFL announced on Monday that they would be suspending the Washington Redskins safety for two games without pay for repeated violations of its safety rules which prohibit hits to the head.
Furthermore, this isn’t the first incident Meriweather has been involved in, as back in 2011 as a member of the Bears, he received a $25,000 fine for a hit on Detroit Lions receiver Nate Burleson.
While that was his third fine in two years, he was also fined just nine days before that for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Carolina Panthers receiver Steve Smith.
However, his most recent incident has left Bennett unhappy with his behaviour on the matter as it doesn’t appear that Meriweather is willing to change his style of play.
“I still want to punch him in the face,” Bennett said during an interview with ESPN.
“What it comes down to, at the end of the day, the players have got to look out for the players,” Bennett explained.
“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 (in the head) 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.
“It’s not ignorance because he knows what he’s doing. Some guys are making these attacks on other guys.”
Bears receiver Brandon Marshall was the victim of one of illegal hits at the weekend, and revealed that he has previously spoken to his former team-mate about his approach.
While Bears general manager Phil Emery didn’t want to discuss players from other franchises, it is clear that there is still a lot of anger over events last Sunday with Bennett appearing to be genuinely worried that a fellow athlete will suffer a serious injury at some point.
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