Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall was fined $24,309 and safety Darian Stewart $18,231 for helmet-to-helmet hits on Newton.
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“That’s a huge fine, I know what it looks like, it looked bad, but that’s a lot of money, so yes I’m upset about it”, Marshall told reporters on Wednesday.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell-who apparently moonlights as Batman villain Two Face when he’s not actively ruining the NFL’s reputation-has levied fines to a pair of Broncos defenders for their helmet to helmet hits on Panthers QB Cam Newton last Thursday.
Stewart’s was the only hit to receive a penalty, although it was offset by an intentional grounding call against Newton.
Former NFL head of officiating Mike Pereira says referee Gene Steratore should have taken matters into his own hands to protect Panthers quarterback Cam Newton during last week’s game against the Broncos.
“We’re dwelling on something that I don’t want to dwell on”, Newton said Wednesday at Bank of America Stadium after a few questions on the topic.
“Certainly, I thought, ‘Oh my God, the league is going to be upset that this is what happens in game No. 1, ‘” Pereira said in the interview. “So I just can’t point my finger and say I haven’t gotten calls because I have”. Stewart’s hit was the only hit to receive a flag for illegal contact. “I could see if we did something wrong”.
Newton’s father, Cecil, meanwhile said the family was “grossly disturbed” by the repeated hits his son suffered.
“Do I think I’ll get fined?”
Cam Newton said he’s not anxious about the long-term effects of repeated hits to his head.
Amid the public outrage over the helmet-to-helmet hits Newton absorbed and an National Football League investigation involving the Panthers’ response to the last of those collisions, Newton says he’s ready to move on.
The San Francisco 49ers vs the LA Rams Monday night was truly a game for the purists and by that I don’t mean it was a veritable chess match between two coaches, I mean you would have to be a lover of everything football to not turn it off.
“At the end of the day, Cam deserves to be protected just Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Ryan Tannehill, Kirk Cousins, Andy Dalton, and the list goes on and on”, he said. Flacco, Brady, and Wilson are all Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks, helping raise their profiles even more, while Philip Rivers comes in at number six.
Broncos coach Gary Kubiak however has defended his players, denying suggestions that Denver had played “dirty”.
“I don’t give a sh- if he ran the ball 10 plays in a row as a running back”. “There is no doubt that everything will work out in itself”.
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“I took a couple hits to the head but I don’t think I showed any signs of being concussed”, Newton said, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk.
