Bears safety Brandon Meriweather is speaking out against rule changes that are eliminating helmet-to-helmet hits in the NFL by making them illegal.
"They teach you growing up that you've got to be violent and put the fear of God in people," Meriweather told Sports Illustrated. "But when you get to the league that you've been dreaming about your whole life, they tell you to change your game 100 percent or get money taken from you."
Safety may be the name of the position Meriweather plays, but it hasn't been the name of his game over the past two years. The Pro Bowler has dished out several skull-crushing blows in that time and has taken a hit of $95,000 in fines as a result.
Meriweather has built quite a reputation for his head-hunting ways. His hit on tight end Todd Heap in Week 5 of 2010 was used as one of the many examples of an illegal hit in the NFL's explanational video of the rule change.
The rules have been in place for over a year now, but Meriweather has yet to put an end to the hits and was fined another $25,000 last week after a hit on Lions receiver Nate Burleson. That was his second consecutive week with a fine, as he was docked $20,000 for a hit on Panthers receiver Steve Smith.
Meriweather tried to defend his case by explaining, "I try lowering my target zone, but if you have a receiver who's 5-foot-8, it's still going to be a helmet-to-helmet collision. How do you avoid that when you're running full speed?"
His point is moot, however — although Smith is 5-foot-9, Burleson is 6 feet tall and his reputation comes from the aforementioned hit on a 6-foot-5 Heap.
