The Carolina Panthers quarterback was victimized by helmet-to-helmet hits at least three times in a 21-20 loss to the Denver Broncos on Thursday night. Overall, though, it was a great game of football, made even better by the Denver Broncos cheerleaders.
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Clearly, the NFL’s epiphany on player health – which the jaded will note only came at the prodding of a massive lawsuit brought by former players whose lives were ruined by repeated hits to the head – still hasn’t gone far enough.
“Key players in crunch time rarely ever get removed for an evaluation, probably because the ATC spotter doesn’t want to be blamed for creating a competitive disadvantage if, for example, Cam Newton had been unavailable to the Panthers for the final drive if, as it turns out, Newton didn’t have a concussion”. He definitely got hit in the head.
Newton took four helmet-to-helmet hits during the physical Super Bowl rematch, including two in which Stewart and linebacker Brandon Marshall left their feet, appearing to launch themselves at Newton.
“We’ve got one heck of a resilient team”, Siemian said after the game. This raises familiar questions about the NFL’s concussion protocol.
“I don’t remember”, Newton said.
The Broncos walloped several of the game’s elite QBs on the way to their title last season, holding Aaron Rodgers to the worst performance of his career and putting the hurt on Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady and Newton in the playoffs.
Some of the hits – there were 17 in all – on Newton featured hits to the head that bordered on unsafe, not to mention illegal.
The Charlotte Observer’s Jonathan Jones reported Newton went for treatment, but the reigning NFL MVP told reporters the medical staff “asked me a couple questions but that was it”, per WRAL’s Mandy Mitchell.
But Newton, who goes by the nickname “Superman”, was more like Iron Man.
“I think he was OK”.
National Football League spokesman Brian McCarthy reiterated in his statement Sunday that this review 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..
But his roughing flag was negated by Newton’s intentional grounding infraction a split second before he was hit. I’m definitely going to appeal.
“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. We do not know when they thought this, but we know they made sure to wait until the game was over to do anything about it. Anybody who has followed the game for any length of time and has a working knowledge of how the game is to be played would agree with that statement. “But no doubt, it’s different when you get out there”.
The Panthers should have looked at him as well.
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Rivera said he knows officials have a hard job to do, especially when it comes to a player like Newton who runs a lot.
