Brandon Meriweather on D&H: Hit was ‘split-second decision’

Brandon Meriweather

Patriots defensive back Brandon Meriweather joined the Dale & Holley show Monday morning, one day after a 23-20 overtime win over the Ravens. To hear the interview, check the Dale & Holley audio on demand page.

Meriweather was penalized 15 yards after a helmet-to-helmet hit on Ravens tight end Todd Heap in the second quarter Sunday, and the hit has generated much discussion. After some initial hesitation to discuss the matter, Meriweather opened up about the play.

“I just attacked,” Meriweather said. “I wasn’t trying to hit head-to-head contact or injure anybody or play dirty in any kind of way. It just happened.”

Added Meriweather: ”I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. I was playing aggressive and something happened. I’m trying not to look at it and make it a big deal, like everybody else is doing. … It’s football. You’ve got a lot of good players, where you think one thing, and another thing can happen in a split-second. So, you’ve always got to make a split-second decision, and my split-second decision was to be aggressive and not wait for it.”

Meriweather said he hasn’t watched a replay of the hit. “Everybody keeps telling me about it, so I kind of don’t want to see it, to be honest.”

As for critical comments from former Patriot Rodney Harrison on CBS, Meriweather brushed them off. “Hot Rod has his opinion on a lot of things,” he said. “I think if was playing he wouldn’t have said anything like that. I don’t think he would said that, period — if he was playing still.”

Asked why players can’t simply stop hitting with their heads, Meriweather responded: “How do you avoid it? Really, how do you avoid it? Apparently not many people do. How many head-to-heads was there yesterday? It’s very hard. You never know what somebody’s going to do. You could try to go with your shoulder, but what if they move the same way you’re moving. Then it’s still going to be head-to-head. It’s a million different ways you can get head-to-head contact. I just think you’ve just got to play aggressive. When things like that happen like this, you just pray no one gets hurt.”

Teammate Vince Wilfork told WEEI that the hit inspired the defense. Said Meriweather: “Y’all got the stats, right? What were the stats after that hit, and before it? I think it was a lot better after than before it. If that’s what we’ve got to do to get our team going and to get our defense to be more aggressive and be better on third down, then I’ll take it.”

Asked about his thoughts right after the play, Meriweather said: “I was walking away because I thought he was going to hop right up. That’s why I was just walking away. Then when I realized he wasn’t, I kind of looked back and saw, and started thinking, ‘I hope he gets up.’ Other than that, I was just trying to get ready to play the next play.”

Meriweather said he’s not going to alter his style. “No, no. Not at all,” he said. “I’m going to be aggressive. Point blank. I won’t change my game, period. I’m sorry it happened. Heap is actually a real good friend of mine. We have the same agent. I talked to him yesterday and let him know it wasn’t intentional. He told me he understood, I was just playing football. No, that’s not going to change my game at all.”