The NFL officially kicked off the season last Thursday with a close rematch between the 2016 Super Bowl competitors, the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos.
Advertisement
During the game, Newton took a series of hits to the head, only one of which drew a penalty.
“We’re not dirty”, Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall said Monday.
“We’re not dirty, when I think of dirty, I think of stepping on somebody’s ankle at the bottom of the pile, twisting somebody around”, Marshall said. “It is important to note that initiation of this process does not mean that we have seen any evidence that the protocol was applied improperly, but simply reflects our obligation to ensure the health and safety of our players”.
“We sent a number (of questionable plays) in and the league is going to evaluate and make their decision”, Rivera said Monday.
Rivera doesn’t know when the NFL or NFL Players Association will conclude its investigation into whether the team and league responded appropriately under the concussion protocol by not taking Newton out of the game to evaluate him.
The blow in question was delivered by Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, who launched himself into Newton, hitting the quarterback in the helmet. Rivera has sent in “a number of plays” into the league for review. “There are a lot of dirty players, and that’s not our M.O”.
His confusion and slow reaction to getting up in the fourth quarter should have been a wake up call to the referees and National Football League, who left Newton unchecked during the game. It’s cool, because people can call me N-word or cuss at me or say they wish I would break my neck all they want.
There is a saying “go bold or go home” that can be said about many things. After all, they weren’t flagged often for the hits, which shows that the officials didn’t view them as blatantly obvious penalties.
This time, the Broncos’ team featured a completely new face under center as Trevor Siermian began his quest to take over for future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. Perhaps they could just dial back on launching at quarterbacks’ heads. I don’t give a s– if he ran the ball 10 plays in a row as a running back.
Advertisement
Shortly after the hit by Marshall, familiar discussions percolated on social media about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease believed to cause disorientation, headaches, memory loss, and erratic behavior in players. We play hard and we talk about playing hard all of the time and as I said, that was a challenge.
