Today, Chicago Bears Tight End Martellus Bennett said he wants to punch Washington Redskins Safety Brandon Meriweather in the face. He also called him a scumbag. Update: DeAngelo Hall fires back at Bears, Meriweather suspension cut in half
Bennett made the comments during his weekly appearance on Chicago’s 670 The Score. (Audio here.) He appears every Monday at 5pm Central, on WSCR midday show “Boers and Bernstein.”
“You got out of there without getting clobbered illegally by Brandon Meriweather, so that’s a victory,” Dan Bernstein said.
“Oh, I still want to punch him in the face,” Martellus Bennett responded.
“Well, he got suspended two games,” Bernstein noted.
“We don’t get any of his money,” Martellus Bennett stated.
Meriwether was suspended for two games for his reckless play. He has a persistent habit of leading with his helmet on hits, and is regarded to be one of the most dirty players in the NFL today. Brandon Meriwether has worn out his welcome almost everywhere he’s played, and his excessively dangerous play makes him liked by pretty much no one.
“And did you hear what he said?” Bernstein asked, before continuing:
“He was joking about it after the game. I don’t know if you read his comments, talking about oh I’m gonna need some help paying for my dinner because of all these fines. I thought that was appalling that he would do that, that he would endanger the livelihood of two different receivers and then joke about it afterward,” Bernstein continued.
“The scumbag,” Martellus Bennett said, before later going into detail about the situation and Meriweather’s disregard for others’ safety means:
“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, 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.”
Martellus Bennett continued:
“these guys have kids, they have livelihoods. You never want to see that happen to a guy. And I don’t think you would want to be a guy that causes that type of emotional pain on his family, his livelihood, whether a guy can walk or do things. Because football’s football. It’s not who we are; it’s just what we do. There’s only like 1,500 of us in the NFL, doing this at this level. You’ve got a bunch of guys that may be on your team next year. You never know when a guy may be on your team. You don’t want to have to deal with that guy in the locker room. If I’m in the same team with you and that happens, I’m gonna try to get you every single day, you know what I’m saying?
“So I just think it’s wrong…. I don’t know. I don’t play defense, either, so I don’t have to tackle.”
“Most guys that do that can’t cover,” Bennett later added.
In the audio file, you can here Martellus Bennett make these comments around the 13 minute mark. Meriweather was fined $42,000 in week two after he knocked out Green Bay Packers running back Eddie Lacy and then subsequently knocked himself out when he hit James Starks.
Paul M. Banks is the owner of The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a regular analyst on news talk radio stations across the world; with weekly segments on NBC and Fox Sports Radio. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) and RSS