“I was all nervous, and that was my biggest thing,’’ Meriweather said. “I just had to find a way to stop being so nervous in the games, and just relax and play.’’
Goal met.
Last Sunday in London, the NFL met Meriweather, formally.
He broke like a cheetah on a ball thrown underneath to a Tampa Bay receiver who thought he found a spot in the Patriots’ zone coverage, intercepted that ball, and returned it 39 yards for New England’s first touchdown. On the next series, Meriweather got his hand on another Josh Johnson pass, had the presence of mind to grab it after it popped into the air, then returned that pick 31 yards.
Everyone got to see the fruition of Meriweather’s 2 1/2-year journey into the high-rent district of safeties.
“He’s more disciplined,’’ said ex-Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, now an NBC analyst, who on Sunday called Meriweather the new leader of the defense. “He’s not just doing his own thing anymore. Before, he was playing fast, but he tried to play outside the defense, and do his own thing.
“Now, if he’s in the deep half, he’ll stay there and do his job, as opposed to coming down out of the deep half to try and make a play, and getting beat over the top.
“Bill [Belichick] always expressed to us that if you do your job within the defense, then the plays are going to come. And that’s what’s happened with Brandon.’’
The plays Meriweather made Sunday are what mark the NFL’s best safeties of this generation.
Think Ed Reed, and it’s hard not to conjure the image of the Raven All-Pro galloping to paydirt after picking off the Dolphins’ Chad Pennington in last season’s playoffs. Think Troy Polamalu, and roll tape of him leaping for a pick and weaving 40 yards through Ravens to put away the AFC Championship game two weeks later.
Granted, the stage was bigger and the opponent tougher for those two than it was for Meriweather last Sunday. But even against a sorry team in Week 7 of the season, the plays showed Meriweather is making progress in that direction.
