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Quarterback Cam Newton, reigning NFL MVP, hit four times in the helmet during game against Broncos
http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/09/09/cam-newton-hit-broncos-panthers-officiating
Crushing blows to Cam Newton expose how poorly the NFL treats one of its biggest stars
Greg Bishop
Friday September 9th, 2016
PHOTO
DENVER – It was hard to watch the punishment Panthers quarterback Cam Newton took on Thursday night against the Broncos. It was hard to stomach the beating he absorbed. The Broncos’ defense hit Newton like a human football piñata, hit him early, hit him often, hit him four times in the helmet.
That Newton didn’t miss a snap, leave the game with a concussion, or break in half spoke more to his durability than common sense. Anyone with eyes and a smidgen of empathy could see he needed to enter the NFL’s concussion protocol, needed to come out. Just because he could stand and still play at a relatively high level didn’t mean that he should have continued on Thursday night.
This always seems to be an issue for officials with Newton in particular. He doesn’t look like a prototypical quarterback, or play like a classic drop-back passer. At 6' 5", 245, he’s built like a linebacker. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.59 seconds, making him a threat to scamper as much as pass. That opens Newton up for more punishment than most of his counterparts. But that doesn’t make it O.K. for officials to miss three helmet-to-helmet hits like they did on Thursday night. “He’s a quarterback, so you’ve got to treat him like one,” receiver Kelvin Benjamin said.
He’s right, even if Newton refused to join the uproar when he met with reporters more than an hour after the game ended 21–20 in favor of the Broncos. “S----y” is how he described his overall mood. The game, he said, was “physical”, the environment “hostile”, the officials a crew “I really like”.
<>
On Thursday, the fourth helmet-to-helmet blow was delivered by Broncos safety Darian Stewart in the fourth quarter. Afterward, in the Broncos’ locker room, Stewart said he didn’t mean to collide with Newton’s helmet, and his teammates praised Newton’s toughness. Pass rusher Von Miller, who sacked Newton again, called him Superman. But that’s not how Newton looked after Stewart slammed him, as he lay sprawled face-down on the turf in Denver, momentarily motionless. He looked wobbled, beaten, worn.
There was no medical timeout. There should have been. “The truth of the matter is the Denver Broncos are the defending champions for a reason,” Newton said.
The truth of the matter is Newton’s right. It’s not his place to clamor for change here unless he wants to. It’s the NFL’s job, the officials’ job, his team’s job and the independent neurologist’s job to protect him, even from himself. On Thursday night, instead, the system failed him.
Crushing blows to Cam Newton expose how poorly the NFL treats one of its biggest stars
Greg Bishop
Friday September 9th, 2016
PHOTO
DENVER – It was hard to watch the punishment Panthers quarterback Cam Newton took on Thursday night against the Broncos. It was hard to stomach the beating he absorbed. The Broncos’ defense hit Newton like a human football piñata, hit him early, hit him often, hit him four times in the helmet.
That Newton didn’t miss a snap, leave the game with a concussion, or break in half spoke more to his durability than common sense. Anyone with eyes and a smidgen of empathy could see he needed to enter the NFL’s concussion protocol, needed to come out. Just because he could stand and still play at a relatively high level didn’t mean that he should have continued on Thursday night.
This always seems to be an issue for officials with Newton in particular. He doesn’t look like a prototypical quarterback, or play like a classic drop-back passer. At 6' 5", 245, he’s built like a linebacker. He runs the 40-yard dash in 4.59 seconds, making him a threat to scamper as much as pass. That opens Newton up for more punishment than most of his counterparts. But that doesn’t make it O.K. for officials to miss three helmet-to-helmet hits like they did on Thursday night. “He’s a quarterback, so you’ve got to treat him like one,” receiver Kelvin Benjamin said.
He’s right, even if Newton refused to join the uproar when he met with reporters more than an hour after the game ended 21–20 in favor of the Broncos. “S----y” is how he described his overall mood. The game, he said, was “physical”, the environment “hostile”, the officials a crew “I really like”.
<>
On Thursday, the fourth helmet-to-helmet blow was delivered by Broncos safety Darian Stewart in the fourth quarter. Afterward, in the Broncos’ locker room, Stewart said he didn’t mean to collide with Newton’s helmet, and his teammates praised Newton’s toughness. Pass rusher Von Miller, who sacked Newton again, called him Superman. But that’s not how Newton looked after Stewart slammed him, as he lay sprawled face-down on the turf in Denver, momentarily motionless. He looked wobbled, beaten, worn.
There was no medical timeout. There should have been. “The truth of the matter is the Denver Broncos are the defending champions for a reason,” Newton said.
The truth of the matter is Newton’s right. It’s not his place to clamor for change here unless he wants to. It’s the NFL’s job, the officials’ job, his team’s job and the independent neurologist’s job to protect him, even from himself. On Thursday night, instead, the system failed him.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/nfl-values-late-game-drama-not-health-cam-players-article-1.2784973
NFL proves once again that it values late-game drama, not health of Cam Newton and its players
By Ebenezer Samuel
Friday, September 9, 2016, 3:11 PM
PHOTO
This was not a good look for the NFL on its Opening Night.
There was Cam Newton, face down on the Mile High turf, motionless after absorbing yet another bone-jarring hit to the helmet, this time from Broncos safety Darian Stewart. There was Newton rising from his knockout blow, visibly dazed, and then there he was going lining up for another play.
And there was every single important person in the NFL, watching, just like the fans, living in the moment.
Welcome to the 2016 NFL season, where player safety is Roger Goodell’s chief “priority,” and there’s been “great progress,” Goodell tells us, in terms of handling concussions. Welcome to the safety-focused NFL, where Cam Newton, glassy-eyed after a late-game eternity on the turf, can battle to a standing position, not draw a hint of concern from any key decision-maker, and continue his pursuit of an NFL Network moment and catastrophic CTE symptoms later in life.
This is how the NFL works, and by now, we should know it. Just seven months and four days ago, the NFL commish stood before the media and proclaimed that “there is no higher priority than player safety,” the right thing to say in this era when “Concussion” is a major film and a major problem.
The right thing to do? Nobody wanted any part of that Thursday, in a league that hasn’t changed one bit it seems, a league that still preserves its drama above all. There is heavy legislation on helmet-to-helmet hits, and there was a brand new, more aggressive concussion protocol unveiled not even two months ago.
But the reigning MVP was in the clutchest of moments, so nobody had the guts to protect him, not Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, not the League, and certainly not by the fancy-schmancy “unaffiliated” doctors on the sidelines, paid to make these tough decisions but not at all interested, apparently, in facing season-opening fan wrath.
<>
Sure, Newton is a mountain of a man, not easy to officiate because of his own physicality. But the officials still failed him, failing to officiate him like a quarterback in a game in which Denver wanted to treat him like a tackling dummy. Denver safety T.J. Ward said after the game that the plan was to “put a helmet or shoulder pad on him (Newton),” and you can’t blame him, since the refs never put a stop to it.
And then the blind doctors and Rivera, a coach blinded by winning, didn’t put a stop to anything, either.
<>
For all the talk of the new NFL and NFLPA joint policy on concussions, a policy that can subject teams to draft pick losses and fines if things aren’t handled properly, this remains an NFL that values drama above all. And on Thursday night, Cam Newton very nearly gave the league a spectacular season-opening magical moment, avenging his Super Bowl nightmare from seven months ago.
Welcome to the new NFL, same as the old NFL.
NFL proves once again that it values late-game drama, not health of Cam Newton and its players
By Ebenezer Samuel
Friday, September 9, 2016, 3:11 PM
PHOTO
This was not a good look for the NFL on its Opening Night.
There was Cam Newton, face down on the Mile High turf, motionless after absorbing yet another bone-jarring hit to the helmet, this time from Broncos safety Darian Stewart. There was Newton rising from his knockout blow, visibly dazed, and then there he was going lining up for another play.
And there was every single important person in the NFL, watching, just like the fans, living in the moment.
Welcome to the 2016 NFL season, where player safety is Roger Goodell’s chief “priority,” and there’s been “great progress,” Goodell tells us, in terms of handling concussions. Welcome to the safety-focused NFL, where Cam Newton, glassy-eyed after a late-game eternity on the turf, can battle to a standing position, not draw a hint of concern from any key decision-maker, and continue his pursuit of an NFL Network moment and catastrophic CTE symptoms later in life.
This is how the NFL works, and by now, we should know it. Just seven months and four days ago, the NFL commish stood before the media and proclaimed that “there is no higher priority than player safety,” the right thing to say in this era when “Concussion” is a major film and a major problem.
The right thing to do? Nobody wanted any part of that Thursday, in a league that hasn’t changed one bit it seems, a league that still preserves its drama above all. There is heavy legislation on helmet-to-helmet hits, and there was a brand new, more aggressive concussion protocol unveiled not even two months ago.
But the reigning MVP was in the clutchest of moments, so nobody had the guts to protect him, not Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, not the League, and certainly not by the fancy-schmancy “unaffiliated” doctors on the sidelines, paid to make these tough decisions but not at all interested, apparently, in facing season-opening fan wrath.
<>
Sure, Newton is a mountain of a man, not easy to officiate because of his own physicality. But the officials still failed him, failing to officiate him like a quarterback in a game in which Denver wanted to treat him like a tackling dummy. Denver safety T.J. Ward said after the game that the plan was to “put a helmet or shoulder pad on him (Newton),” and you can’t blame him, since the refs never put a stop to it.
And then the blind doctors and Rivera, a coach blinded by winning, didn’t put a stop to anything, either.
<>
For all the talk of the new NFL and NFLPA joint policy on concussions, a policy that can subject teams to draft pick losses and fines if things aren’t handled properly, this remains an NFL that values drama above all. And on Thursday night, Cam Newton very nearly gave the league a spectacular season-opening magical moment, avenging his Super Bowl nightmare from seven months ago.
Welcome to the new NFL, same as the old NFL.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article100860967.html
Panthers: Quarterback Cam Newton has passed 4 concussion tests
September 9, 2016 1:47 PM
By Joseph Person
A Carolina Panthers official said Friday that quarterback Cam Newton, who took several helmet-to-helmet hits during Thursday night’s 21-20 season-opening loss to the Denver Broncos, has passed four concussion tests.
Team spokesman Steven Drummond said the tests came in the lockerroom after the game, on the bus to the airport in Denver, on the flight back to Charlotte and in Charlotte on Thursday at 6 a.m.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera, in a news conference at the stadium, confirmed the tests. And while Rivera said his opinion was that some of the hits on Newton should have drawn penalties and that it’s time Newton started getting some “veteran favoritism,” he didn’t consider pulling Newton from the game and is confident the concussion protocol was followed.
“I’m not going to question the doctors,” Rivera said. “They’re the trained professionals.”
Panthers: Quarterback Cam Newton has passed 4 concussion tests
September 9, 2016 1:47 PM
By Joseph Person
A Carolina Panthers official said Friday that quarterback Cam Newton, who took several helmet-to-helmet hits during Thursday night’s 21-20 season-opening loss to the Denver Broncos, has passed four concussion tests.
Team spokesman Steven Drummond said the tests came in the lockerroom after the game, on the bus to the airport in Denver, on the flight back to Charlotte and in Charlotte on Thursday at 6 a.m.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera, in a news conference at the stadium, confirmed the tests. And while Rivera said his opinion was that some of the hits on Newton should have drawn penalties and that it’s time Newton started getting some “veteran favoritism,” he didn’t consider pulling Newton from the game and is confident the concussion protocol was followed.
“I’m not going to question the doctors,” Rivera said. “They’re the trained professionals.”
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