Martellus Bennett on Brandon Meriweather: "He's a Scumbag"

The NFL finally suspended Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather 2 games (eye roll), after the former Patriot tallied up two more dangerous, head-hunting hits Sunday against the Bears. I personally don't think the suspension is enough for a guy that actively tries to concuss his fellow players every week and Bears tight end Martellus Bennett agrees with me.

"He's a scumbag" Bennett said when asked about Meriweather after the game. "I still want to punch him in the face."

Punching him in the face would probably do less damage than Meriweather self-inflicts each week with his helmet-to-helmet hits. Remember, back in Week 2 Meriweather knocked Packers running back Eddie Lacy out of the game with a concussion, only to knock himself out less than a quarter later with another head-to-head hit.

Bennett's comments seem to show that more players around the league are taking notice of Meriweather's blatant disregard for player safety.

“What it comes down to, at the end of the day, the players have got to look out for the players. 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.”

"It's not ignorance, because he knows what he's doing, or guys know what they're doing. Some guys are making these attacks on other guys."

Bennett makes reference to Meriweather's comments following the Redskins win over the Bears. According to Joseph White of the Associated Press, Meriweather joked "Anyone else want to chip in on my dinner? I can't afford it right now" in the locker room after the game. That kind of attitude won't help his chances in his appeal of the suspension, which will be heard today by Ted Cottrell.

For his part, Meriweather believes he did nothing wrong.

"I feel like every hit that I took was a legit hit. I wasn't trying to be dirty. I wasn't trying to hurt nobody. I didn't launch with my head. I used my shoulder like they told me to do. Everything I did was a pointer from them (league officials).... You've just got to play. There ain't nothing I can do about it. I just go out there and play."

For video evidence of what Meriweather considers to be "using his shoulder" and "not launching with his head", click here.

Bennett wasn't the only Bear to speak out against Meriweather's dirty play. Brandon Marshall, who was fortunate to escape serious injury after the safety launched himself helmet-first at Marshall's head, also had some harsh words for Meriweather after the game.

"Guys like that really don't understand that there is life after football. 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. I understand. I get it. I was one of those guys. I played defense growing up. I was a headhunter. Even sometimes on the offensive side, I played that way. But with rules in place, you've gotta respect it."

"I'm not venting or anything," Marshall said. "I understand big hits. That's part of our game, but when you have a guy that does it week in and week out, that's when it becomes a problem."

It's unclear why Meriweather hasn't altered his style of play despite a seemingly constant stream of costly penalties and fines. Perhaps the brain damage he has incurred has caused him to forget that he has arms, which tend to be useful when making legal tackles. Perhaps he's aware of how poor his fundamental tackling skills are and is using his helmet to compensate. Or, perhaps he's just the kind of asshole who thinks head butting a fellow defenseless player unconscious makes him tough.

Given his history, I'm going with the third option.