If they didn’t play a game that bad all of last year, well, maybe they just aren’t as good as last year?
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In their ascent to becoming the NFL’s premier defense, Denver tightropes and often crosses the line between dirty and clean.
Newton said after Thursday’s game that he didn’t think the Broncos targeted his head.
In the short term, the league needs to immediately send out an edict to its officials that ALL quarterbacks are deserving of the same protections, as well as launch an urgent review of its concussion protocol after Newton went through the entire game without being tested, even after all those brutal hits. Certainly not as repeatedly as they did to one player on Thursday and certainly not with intent, which it seems the Broncos had based on the way they spoke about their plan of attack before and after the game.
“We’ve talked about it ad nauseam”. “I remember when I was growing up and playing guys in high school”. If they don’t have a good angle, they may not see what we see or what the folks viewing it on TV see, or the people that are covering it see. However, Newton wasn’t tested and he should have been, particularly after the hit from Denver Safety Darian Stewart late in the game. Not that helmet hits should be cause for automatic concussion evaluation – offensive and defensive linemen get banged in the helmet nearly every play. Gano is a solid kicker, and does have a pretty strong leg but distance was not the issue this time.
But Newton shouldn’t have to warn the refs of anything related to contact to the head.
“I feel [bad]”, Newton said, actually using a far more descriptive expletive. “I had a lot of confidence when I left the meeting (Wednesday) night”. “I’m not going to let one kick define who I am”. But because of his athleticism, size and ability to run the ball, Newton doesn’t get the same benefit of the doubt from officials that Brady or a player like Peyton Manning has in the past. “I just don’t like to lose”.
Newton, the father of reigning league MVP Cam Newton, told ESPN’s Jim Trotter on Friday that he was “deeply disturbed” watching the game.
Newton stayed in after all four hits. His helmet-to-helmet contact wasn’t called a penalty and he’s hopeful it doesn’t draw a fine. “What are we supposed to do?” said Marshall. “We can hit him in the legs sometimes, but his legs are strong”, Marshall said. “We’ve seen him limping throughout the game”.
The Panthers took a 17-7 led into the fourth quarter of the first Super Bowl rematch to start a season since 1970 but Siemian hit running back C.J. Anderson for a 25-yard touchdown on the next snap.
“They determined based on what they saw, when they reviewed the tapes during the game, that he was OK to continue”, Rivera said.
“We hear (what) everybody says about us being dirty, but we’re not going to stop being aggressive”, Stewart said. Every moment since then they’ve been trying to avoid being that team again.
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“I reached for the ball and his head was right there, ” Barrett said.
