On the first night of the 2016 NFL season, a 21-20 win by the Denver Broncos over the Carolina Panthers in a rematch of Super Bowl 50, there was controversy. The uproar didn’t revolve around someone not standing for the national anthem, a catch vs. no catch, or a player keeping his feet inbounds.
Instead, the postgame chatter dealt with the black cloud hovering over the league’s head: a potential concussion controversy involving a star player.
Panthers starting quarterback Cam Newton was hit extremely hard a couple of times by the Broncos’ defense. Despite taking all the hard hits, Newton never came out. A lot of people expressed their surprise on social media that Newton didn’t undergo an in-game concussion test as he was hit in the head multiple times.
“The game was never stopped,” Panthers spokesman Steven Drummond said. “We never got a call to the sideline and the independent neurologist never alerted us to stop the game.”
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Regardless of their role on the field, whether it’s a quarterback or third-string safety, to take those kinds of hits and not be called over for a concussion test surprised many. But Newton is also a starting quarterback who is extremely large for his position. As a result, he might not get the same treatment as everyone else. That’s how Panthers’ linebacker Thomas Davis sees it.
“That’s nothing new. They didn’t do anything different that hasn’t happened all along,” Davis said about Denver’s hits on Newton. “It’s just something that the league is going to have to police and they’re going to have to do a better job of and start treating him like the quarterback that he is.
What Davis is referring to here is more about the lack of calls against the Broncos for their hits on Newton, not as much the concussion test protocols.
Newton is 6-foot-5 and 260 pounds. Here are some other NFL quarterbacks for comparison: Tom Brady – 6-foot-4 and 225, Peyton Manning – 6-foot-5 and 230, Ben Roethlisberger – 6-foot-5 and 240, Jameis Winston – 6-foot-4 and 231, and Aaron Rodgers – 6-foot-2 and 225. That’s an elite group of quarterbacks, and while they all weigh less than Newton, their heights aren’t much different.
“They look at his size. It’s kind of like the NBA used to allow guys to get away with that against Shaquille O’Neal because of his size. But when you dig deep down into it, they talk about player safety all the time and they need to protect that player as well,” Davis added.
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Late in the fourth quarter on the final drive of the game, Newton was hit hard in the head by Broncos safety Darian Stewart. Denver was penalized for the play, but the damage looked much worse for Carolina. Newton was down on his hands and knees for a couple moments after the hit. Despite looking shaken, the QB wasn’t checked out for a concussion.
“I think he was OK. He definitely got hit in the head. But when I went down and talked to him, he was fine. He said, ‘Yeah, I’m good, I’m good. I’m just catching my breath,’” Panthers’ tight end Greg Olsen said. “There was a penalty so we had time to collect ourselves. He’s a tough dude. We all know that by now.”
The big hit was the only one of many called against the Broncos. While the others that weren’t called may have been penalties, Newton didn’t question the calls after the loss.
“It’s not my job to question the officials,” Newton said. “I really like this officiating crew. It wasn’t something that I know they did intentionally. But it’s not fun getting hit in the head. We didn’t lose the game off that; I know that for a fact. We’ve just got to find ways to put more drives together.”
[Charlotte Observer]
