NFL reduces Brandon Meriweather’s suspension to one game

The NFL on Wednesday reduced the two-game suspension of Washington Redskins safety Brandon Meriweather to one game after the player appealed.

Meriweather had received the punishment this week for repeated violations to the NFL’s rules on helmet-to-helmet hits.

Hearing officer Ted Cottrell reduced the suspension, which was originally levied by Merton Hanks, the NFL’s vice president of football operations.

Meriweather was penalized twice for improper hits in Sunday’s victory over Chicago, and was fined for a helmet-to-helmet hit in a loss to Green Bay in September.

Bears tight end Martellus Bennett, speaking on his weekly radio show on WSR 670 in Chicago, was sharply critical of Meriweather.

“What it comes down to, at the end of the day, the players have got to look out for the players,” Bennett said. “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 [in the head] 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.”

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