In both situations, the hits ended with helmet-to-helmet contact.
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In its ascent to becoming the NFL’s premier defense, Denver tightropes and often crosses the line between dirty and clean.
“I think the biggest thing is if there is an opportunity to go back and review things”, Rivera suggested.
“They talk about player safety all the time and they need to protect that player as well”, Davis said. “That was a challenge – when you play that guy and he is such a great player”. The end-game hit on Newton was one of at least three hits to the head against him.
Stewart was flagged for roughing the passer, but that penalty was offset by an intentional grounding call on Newton.
During Thursday night’s Super Bowl rematch between the Panthers and Broncos, Carolina quarterback Cam Newton took several hard hits from Denver defenders.
Last night was opening night for the National Football League, and it was a rematch between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers.
“I’m just super confident in the group of guys we have offensively”, he said. He lowered his head at the last moment.
“You want to go 16-0 first of all, ” Rivera said when asked if the loss stung more because of how it happened. “I had a lot of confidence when I left the meeting (Wednesday) night”. I’m not going to stop being aggressive. I’m always thinking he’s running it with a player like that. It is not up to me to make those decisions and those calls. “What are we supposed to do?” said Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, who doled out a couple of egregious hits on Newton. He became defensive a year ago after his quarterback stayed in for three plays and completed a touchdown drive before being tested for a concussion in the locker room early in the third quarter of a 41-38 win against New Orleans. “We’ll see what some of those hits look like (on film)”.
As the game was going, there was clearly time for someone to check him during the game. “You have to hit him”.
Rivera said Newton’s size may be a factor.
“Everybody knows what type of player Cam is – he’s the league MVP”. But no one would have criticized him if he questioned the officials or complained that the Broncos were targeting his head. “That’s what we do here”.
A spokesman for the NFL Players Association told ESPN that it is looking into whether the concussion protocol was followed.
The league said Panthers team doctor Robert Heyer and an independent neurotrauma consultant requested a replay of the collision from the certified athletic trainers in the spotters’ booth.
Whether the reason being the pace of the game and helmet to helmet cannot always be seen, or the mentality officials have on Cam because of how he plays and his size, none of that should matter.
Thursday night, it seemed like more of an afterthought as opposed to a priority. “That’s what we try to bring every week to make everybody fear us”. “There’s too much going through my head right now for me to remember what happened”. I saw two plays where he left the pocket where there were big collisions.
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