Whats happened to Meriweather?

[JoeShmoe]

Our supposed pro-bowl saftey isnt starting, people are claiming he's 'free-lancing', if I read this rightly he didn't 'feel' right before the jets game and he looked awful yesterday, out of position on a lot of plays

From a period of strength we now really only have Chung playing well and he's in his first starting season

 

[JackBauer]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

He didn't look awful yesterday. If anything, I'd call his performance mixed.

I think it's pretty clear what's happening with Meriweather. He has a tendency to gamble and BB feels he can't have that right now with the youth and inexperience at cornerback.

 

[ALP]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

whatever the reason, hes not playing like a starting safety in this league aught to be playing

and safety play needs to be very strong this season in particular

 

[STFarmy]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

He didn't look awful yesterday. If anything, I'd call his performance mixed.

I think it's pretty clear what's happening with Meriweather. He has a tendency to gamble and BB feels he can't have that right now with the youth and inexperience at cornerback.

It was mixed. Great hustle on a play early in the game when he came around the backside and got one of the Bill's RBs (don't recall which) who would have gone for a number of yards otherwise, and he did well on the pick.

He took the inside on that sideline TD play, however, and just had some bad overpursuing and general breakdowns in good technique. He's shown flashes of brightness though, so I hope he can fix these problems.

 

[cstjohn17]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

Our supposed pro-bowl saftey isnt starting, people are claiming he's 'free-lancing', if I read this rightly he didn't 'feel' right before the jets game and he looked awful yesterday, out of position on a lot of plays

From a period of strength we now really only have Chung playing well and he's in his first starting season

The guy is not a smart football player, combine that with average size & average speed and you get a classic JAG.

 

[flycessna]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

You do what your told unless you get it right doing it your own way??

All of the great players make the big plays doing their own thing "once in a while" but they do it at the right time!

BM is....IMO.... imature! If your taking chances and not finding success on a regular basis then give it up and do your job.

Am I happy they won a game... yes! but I can't come away from that win feeling confident about anything I saw on the defense..

Even tackling which looked at first that we were going to have a hard tackling hitting maching... looked weak yeaterday.

 

[The Dynasty]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

Its an attitude issue. He thinks he is better than everyone else in the Pats secondary and wants to do things his way and not the Patriot way. I think we have seen the peak of Merriweather's performance unless he has a complete attitude change and has more of a team first attitude.

 

[Rexorcism]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

Merriwether looks like Kerry Rhodes part 2.

Guy has a few good seasons and then thinks he can play above the program and make plays.

Sad to see talented guys shoot themselves in the foot.

 

[patsox23]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

He's immature, he doesn't seem to care ENOUGH about losing, and he fell in love with making that half-season "Pro Bowl" team that got so much press last year. That's a big part of it, I think -- the guy shouldn't have even been on any list that has anything to do with the Pro Bowl.

He wasn't even the best safety-named-Brandon-M last year!

Hopefully he grows up, and FAST, because so far he looks to be more in the class of Maroney, Bethel, Chad, etc... than I'd like to see from an elder statesmen in the secondary.

 

[RobAllan]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

You know, he had trouble learning our defense. Then had a good season last year. Say what you want about our "D", but it looks somewhat different than last year too. Maybe he freelances when he gets confused. It might be an issue with playbook more than with attitude.

Might not be too. But if it's that, he might start to return to form in second half of the season.

 

[JackBauer]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

The guy is not a smart football player, combine that with average size & average speed and you get a classic JAG.

Quite absurd, frankly.

 

[JackBauer]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

He wasn't even the best safety-named-Brandon-M last year!

You mean he wasn't better than the guy who got benched halfway through the season? Great point!

 

[cstjohn17]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

Quite absurd, frankly.

Ok,so I used a little hyperbole but not much. The guy is pedestrian, a lot closer to JAG than Probowl.

 

[JackBauer]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

Ok,so I used a little hyperbole but not much. The guy is pedestrian, a lot closer to JAG than Probowl.

We'll just agree to disagree.

Meriweather would be a terrific safety... on a team with more talent and experience in the secondary. We'll see if that comes to pass soon enough.

 

[drakehead]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

Could it have anything to do wth the new Safety coach BB brought in this year, Corwin Brown?

Maybe him and Merriwhiffin' are not seeng eye-to-eye?

 

[SuperPatsFan]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

Belichick carries grudges against players far too often, and far too long, at the detrement of the team, as a whole.

Hopefully, Meriweather will be starting Monday night in Miami.

Are you implying Belichick is vindictive, and benches players out of spite even if it hurts the team?

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

Listening to some of the former players talk about what he himself said about what has happened to him this season, this is all about immaturity and ego on the heels of a injury replacement pro bowl nod that wasn't earned. He claims he spent his time in camp trying out some stuff that the coaches didn't want him doing because he thought he should. And when his ideas didn't pan out he found himself in the dog house and falling behind others in the rotation as a result. We saw more of that Sunday. The kid has talent. All the youngsters do. That's not the issue. The issue is focus and discipline and coachability. Reps get you better unless you genuinely lack the talent to. But reps are earned based on your effort and willingness to take coaching and improve technique and performance consistency and execute your job as dictated within the system. They will put you in position to make plays and do your job if you listen. If you don't you may make a play here and there but you will miss more than you make and impact your teamates ability to do their jobs and make plays adversely in the process.

Talent is seductive. But ever wonder why coaches are also drawn to the blue collar , throwback overachievers so much? Football is about more than raw talent. Often times it's all the little things you do simply because you're focused and driven that change the outcome of games. Fans seldom see or realize that because they have become conditioned to value the highlight reel play and fantasy league points. This generation of top draft talent is tough to work with on more levels than ever because of the money and the exposure and all the off the field distractions and attention paid to them before they even get here. Ten years ago before the salary cap imploded and guarantees began creeping into the 40-50% range, this was a real play for pay league where you were either such a stud the rules didn't apply to you or you didn't last long because coaches didn't have to tolerate underachievers or middle of the pack problem children and veteran teamates wouldn't tolerate them either and might even take matters into their own hands. Today they are all brothers in arms who can barely criticize even abhorent behavior in each other...

 

[mcsully]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

While I see bright spots, I also see some bad spots.. He's a good kid, who has a nose for the ball.. He's not slow, as someone stated and he's improved on his tackling from last season.. He's actually one of the better safties in our division..

 

[The Dynasty]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

He is very immature. Many reporters have said he is often smiling and joking around after losses.

 

[sbpatfan]

Re: Whats happened to Merriweather?

You know who also gets occasionally burnt for taking risks? Troy Polomalu. Besides Chung, who seems to be emerging, BM is the only playmaker our secondary currently has. Our defense blows ass anyways, right? I'd rather see him get burnt and then make a game changing play than watch conservative Sanders float around.