Brandon Meriweather

Defensive back Brandon Meriweather checked in for his weekly chat on the Dale & Holley show page Monday as part of WEEI’s Patriots Monday. To hear the interview, go to the Dale & Holley audio on demand page.

Asked how he would spend the bye week before the Patriots’ playoff opener, Meriweather said: “Just trying to get better. It’s a time where you focus even harder now. You’ve got to take your game up a notch. You just try to focus on the little things and let your body heal.”

Despite the recent success of the Patriots defense and his selection to the Pro Bowl, Meriweather said the defensive unit continues to be overlooked. “We will never get the respect we deserve. And that’s just the truth,” he said. “You know it, I know it. We could have the best defense in NFL history, and we would never get the respect we deserve.”

Pressed as to why he feels that way, he responded: “Because this team is still offensive-friendly. It is. The team is always about the offense. That’s a good thing for us — a great thing for us, actually. Because we don’t have any pressure.”

Meriweather said he learned of his Pro Bowl selection Tuesday afternoon from teammate and fellow Pro Bowler Jerod Mayo. “Mayo had called me and he was telling me. I actually thought he was playing [a joke],” Meriweather said. “He was like, ‘Did Bill [Belichick] call you? I was like, ‘Uh, no.’ And then I checked my phone and realized I did miss a phone call from Bill. … I called [Belichick] back and he told me. And I was happy. I can’t tell you how happy I was, but I was very, very happy.”