The Carolina Panthers say Cam Newton passed concussion tests after Thursday night’s game in Denver when he took hit after hit after hit to the helmet. “Games like this, we look forward to”. Though Carolina did have a chance to win on a late field goal, that missed and the Panthers fell short. I’m disappointed in the officiating crew, as a fan of the NFL.
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The Panthers took a 17-7 led into the fourth quarter of the first Super Bowl rematch to start a season since 1970 but Siemian hit running back C.J. Anderson for a 25-yard touchdown on the next snap. He’s roughly the same size, if not bigger, than a few of the men tackling him and I really think that’s a factor in some of these “judgement” calls. As for all the hits that didn’t draw a flag, Newton just shrugged. Than in the 4th Quarter all of sudden Denver’s fortune starting to change when Trevor lead his team on a drive that saw them close the gap. The QB went to the sideline and put a towel over his head as trainers checked him out. “I know you guys are anticipating so much, and I’m trying my best to keep it together”. The insane thing is that the Broncos were only penalized for one of the hits, which has caused many to question the referees who were working the game.
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. “What are we supposed to do?” said Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall, who doled out a couple of egregious hits on Newton. “That’s what we do and that’s what has us No. 1, so we’re going to continue to play football”, Stewart said.
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”. This time, a flag was thrown for the personal foul, but since Newton’s throw did not clear the line of scrimmage, an intentional grounding call was also made, and the personal foul was offset, and the hit was essentially free. I’m not going to stop being aggressive. “You come here, that’s championship-level defense”.
“If anything happens in the game that looks questionable, our doctor and the independent come together and they go and look at it immediately on instant replay”.
“It was just me being aggressive”.
“It was a very physical game”, he said, according to Max Henson of the team’s official website.
Veteran tight end Greg Olsen called Steratore a great ref, but echoed other Panthers teammates when he said: “We’ve got to treat Cam like a quarterback”. If defenders think any helmet-to-helmet crack will get a player pulled for a check-up, then it might actually incentivize such hits.
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In a Thursday night season opener that had the intensity and physicality of a postseason game, the Panthers and Broncos met the same fate as last February. “That running stuff, you can’t do that all game with your quarterback”. The Chargers will be hungry and most are writing them off with trendy Oakland and the new Broncos hype. I guess we’ll never have to sit in a doctor’s waiting room again – just send the video instead.
