Shanahan confident Meriweather will ‘hit in the right area’ in return

With Washington Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather returning this week from a one-game suspension for illegal hits, head coach Mike Shanahan is sure that Meriweather will play effective against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

According to Shanahan, per Pro Football Talk, Meriweather won’t hesitate despite discussions on how he plays:

"I think sometimes people get a little carried away with that. We understand what the rules are and he’s been penalized for it. We’ve been penalized as a team as well. So he knows where the emphasis is and he wants to play football for a long time. When he does get that hit, he’s gonna try to hit in the right area. Hopefully he does."

Meriweather, who was suspended and has been fined for his illegal hits, better start finding the right area if he doesn’t want to miss more games. He already made headlines this week when he said Monday that the new NFL rules force players to “go low now. You’ve got to end people’s career. You’ve got to tear people’s ACLs and mess up people’s knees now.”

I’m certain the NFL wasn’t to happy with that statement. Neither was Executive Director of the NFL Players Association DeMaurice Smith, who stated in a written letter that Meriweather was “sorry” for what he said.

Sure he is.

I guess we will see this Sunday when the Redskins host the San Diego Chargers. While Shanahan might not want it to happen, Meriweather may want to consider some hesitation, because if anyone’s career’s are ended Sunday, all eyes will be on him.