“I think as far as big hits on quarterbacks or hits to the helmet, I think that would be important and I think eventually it is going to come that”, Carolina coach Ron Rivera said Friday. So with the quarterback entering his sixth season, it’s understandable why Rivera admitted: “I’d love for him to start getting some of that veteran favoritism”.
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Since the game concluded, Newton has been tested four times to see if he has a concussion.
Never mind that the Panthers said he was tested four times afterward and all were negative.
The Panthers are slated to play next on September 18, when they’ll host the San Francisco 49ers.
The league said Sunday that it wants to ensure the concussion protocol is being “uniformly applied across all 32 teams”.
Lewis hit out at the crackdown on defensive players asking if they were meant to “hit him soft or just lay on him (Cam Newton)”.
The NFL doesn’t disagree with Rivera.
Some of the hits – there were 17 in all – on Newton featured hits to the head that bordered on unsafe, not to mention illegal.
According to a league source, of the handful of plays that resulted in hits to Newton’s head, there should have been at least one more flag thrown.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to comment publicly. The most brutal hit of the night, came from Darian Stewart, who went high, helmet first again, into Newton’s head, while Shaq Barrett went low and took him down by the ankles.
On second-and-10 from the Carolina 47, Newton rolled out to his left and released a pass into the flat as he was being tackled and linebacker Shaquil Barrett draped around his ankles.
Newton stayed in and led the Panthers into field goal range, although Graham Gano missed a 50-yard attempt that would have given Carolina the lead. “I thought I (led) with the shoulder”, Stewart said. But the loss hurt because everything we did, we geared up to winning this game and now we’ve got to win the next one.
“I’m beginning to question the consistency of how games are being called – and who they would call this particular play against versus this particular player”, Newton’s father told ESPN’s Jim Trotter in an interview. Not that helmet hits should be cause for automatic concussion evaluation – offensive and defensive linemen get banged in the helmet nearly every play.
“I was going to drill it, no double in my mind”, said Gano, who was wide left. There is a protocol, ” Rivera said.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell remains in control of all discipline regarding concussion protocol offenses. Our Editor-in-Chief Jason McIntyre is right when he says the outcry would have been way more severe had Newton been removed at that moment. “Was Cam treated differently from other quarterbacks?” I just happened to play nine years, coached 20 some odd years. “So that makes it tough”.
The play will be subject to the NFL’s normal review process for discipline, and Marshall is likely facing a fine.
Two years ago in the Super Bowl, Julian Edelman appeared to take a helmet hit, and there was even a request to check him. Miller’s facemask-to-facemask hit occurred while Newton was being sacked by DeMarcus Ware.
With increased scrutiny of the NFL’s handling of concussions and bolstered evidence regarding the long-term damage they can cause, the National Football League set up a new injury review system at the end of the 2011 season.
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“I try to warn the refs every time I do get hit in the head, but if the flag is not called then it’s OK”, Newton said.
