Head coach Ron Rivera believes medical personnel and game officials took the proper steps to make sure quarterback Cam Newton could safely continue to play in the waning moments of the Panthers’ physical season opener Thursday night in Denver.
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“I think the National Football League really cares more about its image than it does player safety”, Garcia said. “In this case, yes he was-clearly”, Newton’s father said.
Now that the Denver Broncos have simply justified their actions that have caused such outrage across the country, it is up to the NFL It is not only the Carolina Panthers player that are at risk.
“I think his style of play is different as far as quarterbacks are concerned”.
First, Denver defenders repeatedly targeted Newton’s head, including some textbook helmet-to-helmet hits that were not penalized.
“He’s a big guy, and I just think that they think sometimes, ‘Oh, he can take it, ‘” Rivera told the Charlotte Observer. “I don’t know (what was asked), there’s too much going through my head right now for me to remember what happened”.
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.
That was the only hit that drew a penalty, although USA Today reported that National Football League officiating chief Dean Blandino determined a third-quarter hit by linebacker Brandon Marshall also should have been flagged. We’ve just got to find ways.
That’s no reason for the officials to continually look the other way.
After the game, the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Newton said it isn’t his job to question the officials and doesn’t feel like the Broncos hit him in the head intentionally. As the referees reviewed the penalties – both were offset by the other – Newton appeared slow to get up, but was never pulled out of the game.
The next player might not be so lucky.
Rivera hopes Thursday’s situation, because it happened on a nationally-televised stage to the league MVP, will spark the league to be more proactive on helmet-to-helmet hits. In addition, his team receives a 15-yard penalty.
With the Broncos leading by one, the Panthers led a final drive to get into field goal range. While the targeting rule still has its share of hiccups, the replay system helps to weed out the calls that are blatantly wrong, an important safeguard when a foul comes with such stiff penalties. More importantly, those teams’ defensive coordinators saw the manner in which the officiating crew responded to the most borderline of those hits.
According to Rivera, the team doctor and UNC (unaffiliated neuro-consultant) agreed that Newton did not show symptoms of a concussion to the point they felt he needed to leave the game. “I ” m not going to question the doctors”. That’d be cool. Again, it’s a very hard thing the referees have to do.
The hit the league referenced in its release Friday occurred with 36 seconds left in the game was by Stewart.
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That could lead to a hefty fine. “Again this is about player safety at the end of the day”.
