Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark has defended Washington Redskins' safety Brandon Meriweather over comments he made regarding the league's policy on helmet-to-helmet hits.

Meriweather threatened to target receivers' knees having been given a one-match ban for repeatedly hitting defenceless players in the head, arguing that the league's rules encouraged players to "tear ACLs".

Clark admitted that Meriweather's comments may have come off a little strong, but insisted that there was a lot of truth in what he was saying.

"Obviously the position that he's in makes him sound angry, makes it sounds a little more cruel than it truly is. But what he's saying is extremely true or has a lot of fact to in the sense that the one place we know we can hit guys and you won't get fined is extremely low," Clark told reporters.

"What he says makes a lot of sense to me. You just wish he was in a better position emotionally to where people can really understand it and really know that he's only saying he's trying to be as safe as possible as far as not getting fined, not getting suspended, not getting penalized."

Clark also backed Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant after he was criticised for a couple of sideline confrontations with teammates at the weekend.