Brandon Meriweather has endured a multitude of setbacks in the past several seasons, but football once again became fun for the Redskins safety on Monday night against the Dallas Cowboys.
"I would say that was one of the games that I will remember," he said. "It was Monday night and that made that even better."
Early in the second quarter, Meriweather aided in ending one of the more promising advances by the Cowboys' offense. After Demarco Murray scampered down the sideline for a 36-yard reception, rookie cornerback Bashaud Breeland ripped the ball from his grasp and Meriweather recovered it just shy of the sideline.
Fast forward to the end of the game, and Meriweather very nearly put the Redskins in position to win with either a touchdown or a chip-shot field goal at the end of regulation.
With Dallas backed up to their own 12-yard line, he came free off the right side and had a clear path to the quarterback.
Unable to avoid the incoming tackler, Romo coughed up the football as Meriweather forced the second of his two fumbles that was eventually recovered by the Cowboys.
"That's like the dream come true situation," Meriweather said. "It's crunch time and coach sends you on a blitz and get a good hit and a strip."
Against the Dallas Cowboys, the eighth-year safety made seven solo stops, two sacks and forced two fumbles (both career single-game highs) while recovering another fumble.
"I was just having fun," he said. "I really wasn't thinking about it. I really didn't even realize the game I was having until the end when everybody came up to me and told me. I was just having fun."
Defensive coordinator Jim Haslett thought that Meriweather put forth one of his best efforts since joining the team back in 2012.
"I thought he played one of his better games," Haslett said. "He had [7] tackles, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery. He kind of likes that stuff. He's pretty good at it. Hopefully we can get him more opportunities to do it."
As a secondary, the Redskins had perhaps their best performance of the season. After holding Dallas to just 224 yards passing, Meriweather said his teammates have built some confidence moving forward.
"Anytime you can play a game like that and play against one of the best receivers in the league and hold your own, it builds your confidence a lot," he said. "Now that happens, we'll have to see where that goes from there."
Before the season ends, the Redskins will have to deal with some of the NFL's more explosive aerial attacks, including a Philadelphia Eagles' team that passed for 325 yards and three scores against Washington in Week 3.
If they want to keep the momentum rolling, however, Meriweather believes that their mentality will be key.
"We have to continue to have fun," he said. "We continue to go out there and challenge each other and take that step to get better every day."
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