More than the Broncos coming back from a 10-point deficit to win the game, or Newton having broken two National Football League records Thursday night, people focused on the number of times the 27-year-old quarterback had been hit in the head by Denver’s defense.
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While Stewart was penalized for his hit, Deadspin had this collection of more helmet shots that Newton absorbed.
That’s far softer than Newton’s criticism last September of referee Ed Hochuli, whom Newton accused of saying the now 27-year-old quarterback is “not old enough to get that call” for roughing the passer after a hit.
While acknowledging that the officials have a very hard job, Rivera put the onus on the league office, saying that if the NFL decides retroactively that a hit was egregious, players need to be suspended and fined – at least, if the NFL really wants to protect its players.
“I’m not going to question the doctors, OK?”
The NFL has determined officials erred in not flagging Denver Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall for his hit to Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton’s head in Thursday’s kickoff game.
The officials, team and new protocol whiffed on the many blows to the head on Cam Newton.
The league also said Carolina medical staff ran out on the field to check on Newton immediately after the hit.
How Newton was not flagged by the concussion spotters in the press box to leave the game for brain evaluation is unexplainable.
Newton was tested four times for a concussion after the game in the locker room; on the bus; on the flight home; and Friday morning at the stadium and all proved to be negative.
Last night’s NFL kickoff featured a pre-game protest, a game-breaking missed field goal, and, of course, an apparent breach of the league’s concussion protocol.
And Newton, at 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, is a super-sized running back much of the time, ducking his head just like any other running back slicing his way through the line.
“Because he’s a big guy, I think sometimes they just think, ‘Oh, he can take it, ‘” Rivera said.
But Rivera says he believes some of those hits should have drawn flags, and Newton’s size may be a part of the reason they didn’t. Here’s what makes me cringe about the way Denver plays defense: If football really is a fraternity, why do NFL athletes treat the bodies of their brothers with such utter disrespect?
“There was communication between medical personnel on the Carolina sideline, including the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant, and the two independent certified athletic trainer spotters in the booth”, the NFL’s statement said.
“I think there is a little bit of prejudice to that”, Rivera said.
Except that Panthers kicker Graham Gano says that isn’t the case.
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“We wanted to make sure it got to him, so every time he ran, we tried to put a helmet or shoulder pads on him”, said the Broncos’ other starting safety, T.J. Ward. We didn’t lose the game off that. 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. Not that helmet hits should be cause for automatic concussion evaluation – offensive and defensive linemen get banged in the helmet nearly every play.
