Cam Newton, voted the NFL’s most valuable player at the end of last season, had to miss the opening play of the Panthers game against the Seahawks. “Shoot, I really wanted to get back to the Super Bowl and win it”.
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One of the most emotional players on Seattle’s roster, Thomas hinted at retirement in a tweet sent just before halftime.
But it looked sillier for Newton to be healthy and not playing the first offensive snap of a game that so many Panthers (Luke Kuechly, Kurt Coleman, Michael Oher, Ryan Kalil) were missing because of serious injuries and would have dearly loved to play.
Seattle fans went nuts, but Panthers fans had the same thought that crossed their minds-where in the world is Cam Newton?
While Thomas hasn’t yet been placed on injured reserve, his departure from the active roster is all but certain at this point. But that’s been an aberration from the rest of the season in which the defense has needed to keep the games low-scoring.
“You can’t make up for it”.
“We want you to be who you are”, Rivera said.
Seattle’s 5-foot-10, 202-pound safety has been a key part of the team’s Legion of Boom secondary, and alongside Kam Chancellor the two compromised arguably the NFL’s best safety tandem.
Following an error-filled setback Sunday in Seattle, the great expectations that Rivera and his team understandably held tightly to were replaced by a hard dose of reality that numerous National Football League teams must face this time of year but that the Panthers didn’t see coming. “We’re going to evaluate things eventually, but we’ve got four games left. Earl’s apt to say something that might surprise you and he did”.
Instead, from nearly the second the game ended, Carroll promised it was just a blip on the radar, just one of those days. Let him go through his process. “It’s going to take a while”. “All I did was treat a player the way I did any other player”. Thomas tried to get up and walk the injury off but was unable to and dropped back down to the turf.
That’s a three-hour flight, a little bit more than a week after Zimmer had an emergency operation to fix a detached retina, but the Vikings (6-6) wouldn’t have proactively declared him fit for the job again if there were still uncertainty about his status for the game on Sunday against the Jaguars (2-10).
Thomas never missed a game (27) in his two seasons at Texas.
Carroll said that Steven Terrell will take over Thomas’ free safety, but noted that no one can truly replace “the very unique” Thomas. If the Kansas City Chiefs hadn’t selected Eric Berry ahead of them in the draft that year, there’s a good chance he’d be in Seattle, but the Chiefs did and the Seahawks picked tackle Russell Okung instead.
Of course, if the Seahawks continue to put up 40 points and rush for 240 yards, there will be less pressure on the defense.
Of more immediate concern, Thomas’ loss is a massive blow for the Seahawks.
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But holding this team together might be Rivera’s greatest challenge. There’s no turning away it, ‘ ” Rivera said.
