In the aftermath of Denver’s 21-20 victory over Carolina on Thursday night, the staff member was asked a simple question: How is it that Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was not taken out of the game for examination of a possible concussion?
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Newton finished the game 18 of 33 for 194 yards, and Benjamin caught six passes for 91 yards.
How Newton was not flagged by the concussion spotters in the press box to leave the game for brain evaluation is unexplainable.
“The NFL is committed to the proper application of the concussion protocol”.
“We are reviewing the matter”, union spokesperson George Atallah told USA TODAY Sports.
Only one game into the regular season and there are already a handful of hits the National Football League should have to answer for.
“If anything happens in the game that looks questionable, our doctors and the independent (doctor) come together and look at it immediately on instant replay”, Rivera said. They are fierce as ever and ready to play.
“I think there is a little bit of prejudice to that”, Rivera said of the lack of penalties. So as far as my knowledge, he’s no longer in the protocol or never was in the protocol.
Kiz: When I asked Broncos coach Gary Kubiak point blank if his team played dirty against the Panthers, he categorically denied the allegation, preferring to label the style of play as aggressive. In the fourth, Chris Harris Jr. made a diving interception that set up a Broncos score, and Super Bowl 50 MVP Von Miller finally got in on a sack.
It’s only natural that the officials see Newton, as imposing a quarterback as there is at 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, in a different light than his mostly smaller counterparts.
Only Stewart’s hit was penalized – and that was a flag thrown from far away by referee Gene Steratore, who saw what the back judge positioned near the play could not. “But when you deliberately target and when you’re constantly being hit after the ball is out, I question the intent of the defensive player, and I question the official”. I really like this officiating crew, so I know it’s not something they did intentionally.
“Because he’s a big guy, I think sometimes they just think, ‘Oh, he can take it, ‘” Rivera said.
“I try and warn the refs every time I do get hit in the head”, he said.
I’d love to see him start getting some of that veteran favoritism. “If safety is the top priority, then you’ve got to do something now”.
Some believe that by the time his career is over, Cam Newton will have changed the way quarterback is played. “So that makes it tough”.
“Last time I talked to Cam was last night and when I talked to him he doing pretty good”, said Panthers coach Ron Rivera in a Friday afternoon news conference at Bank of America Stadium.
Rivera hopes the fact that the Broncos’ apparent targeting of Newton in the NFL’s kickoff game with a TV audience of 25 million will spur action.
The league said Sunday that it wants to ensure the concussion protocol is being uniformly applied across all 32 teams.. “It’s up to the doctors, just so you understand that”.
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The league needs to show it’s at least as concerned about player safety as it is about deflated footballs. “So we have to find a better solution to keep these things down to a minimum”.
