The Denver Broncos, behind Siemian’s solid starting debut and Anderson’s nose for the end zone, rallied to defeat Newton and the Carolina Panthers, 21-20, on a warm Thursday night to open the season at soon-to-be-renamed Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
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They played a game that was far from their best in nearly every phase and despite the big win over last season’s NFC Champion, the Carolina Panthers, they are not happy about it.
And whenever you factor in human judgment, sometimes things aren’t always equal.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera and several of Newton’s teammates also shared their concern that more of those helmet-to-helmet hits on their star quarterback weren’t flagged.
“There’s a little bit of prejudice to that”. Again, it’s kind of like what happened to Shaquille O’Neal. Aside from the hit by Stewart, Denver linebackers Brandon Marshall and Shaq Barrett both hit Newton in the head during the game.
The second-year quarterback, a seventh-round draft pick last year taken by Denver 250th overall after an underwhelming college career, overcame two interceptions and completed 18 of 26 passes for 178 yards and one touchdown.
But it’s not like Newton’s new to the league.
The coach would like to see Newton, now in his sixth season, get some “veteran favoritism” from the league’s officials. There’s no question his helmet made contact with Newton’s helmet, and if it had been called for a penalty, the league would have been fine with it, the source said. Rivera said. “There is a protocol”. He also threw two interceptions and took two sacks when a more seasoned quarterback might have thrown it away.
Elsewhere • Former 49ers tight end Bruce Miller made his first court appearance on assault and battery charges after San Francisco police say he drunkenly attacked a 70-year-old man and his son.
The Steelers gave him tens of millions of reasons not to make that call.
CAROLINA BLUE: The Panthers are 17-1 against the rest of the world since the start of last season and 0-2 against the Broncos. In his first game since a torn ACL cost him all of 2015, WR Kelvin Benjamin led the Panthers with 91 yards receiving.
“We wanted to make sure we got to him”, safety T.J. Ward of the Broncos told reporters Thursday. He caught six of his 12 targets, including a 14-yard touchdown.
Gano, whose practice kick hugged the right upright after Denver had called timeout, missed wide left moments later.
K Graham Gano booted a 50-yard field goal through the uprights in the final seconds, but that came after the Broncos had called timeout. “I just missed it”, he said. “I never grabbed his face mask”.
While Rivera understands the daunting challenge facing referees in real time, he wouldn’t mind seeing the referee given a chance to slow things down, especially when dealing with a quarterback as physically unique as Newton. The Broncos were down most of the game largely because they had committed three turnovers to none by the Panthers. It was his 44th career rushing touchdown, most ever by an National Football League quarterback.
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There was one play in the fourth quarter when as Newton toward the left sideline, Broncos cornerback Bradley Roby seemed to let up a tad on the quarterback. The previous mark was Todd Sauerbrun’s 73-yarder at Miami (11/4/01).
