{"id":17658,"date":"2016-09-11T08:03:53","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T15:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/panthers-rivera-time-for-newton-to-start-getting-calls\/"},"modified":"2016-09-11T08:03:53","modified_gmt":"2016-09-11T15:03:53","slug":"panthers-rivera-time-for-newton-to-start-getting-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/panthers-rivera-time-for-newton-to-start-getting-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers’ Rivera: Time for Newton to start getting calls"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. <\/strong>\u2014 Panthers coach Ron Rivera wants Cam Newton to receive the same protection on helmet-to-helmet hits as other quarterbacks get in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Rivera said because of the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Newton\u2019s size and the Panthers\u2019 style of play, Newton often doesn\u2019t draw the flags on hard hits that smaller QBs do.<\/p>\n

Newton was on the receiving end of four helmet-to-helmet hits in Thursday night\u2019s physical 21-20 loss to Denver, but the Broncos were only penalized once.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a little bit of prejudice to that,\u201d Rivera said of the lack of penalties. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like Shaquille O\u2019Neal. He\u2019s a big physical basketball player and he goes to set a pick and they fall down and they call a foul on him. Then he goes to shoot a layup and gets hacked and hammered and they don\u2019t call it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivera even went as far as to say the league\u2019s reigning MVP should receive some preferential treatment.<\/p>\n

The coach would like to see Newton, now in his sixth season, get some \u201cveteran favoritism\u201d from the league\u2019s officials.<\/p>\n

Newton was tested four times for a concussion \u2014 after the game in the locker room, on the bus, on the flight home and Friday morning at the stadium \u2014 and all proved to be negative. He was never tested during the game.<\/p>\n

Newton is expected to practice when the Panthers return to the field on Wednesday, the coach said.<\/p>\n

Rivera said he will send video of some of the hits to the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them you would like to see them throw the flags,\u201d Rivera said without identifying which hits.<\/p>\n

The NFL doesn\u2019t disagree with Rivera. A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that league officials say linebacker Brandon Marshall should have been flagged for a second half hit on Newton.<\/p>\n

The person said Dean Blandino, the league\u2019s senior vice president of officiating, and his staff reviewed the play and determined on Friday that Marshall should\u2019ve been flagged for delivering a hit to Newton\u2019s head after the quarterback had released the football. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the NFL did not publicly comment on the details of its review.<\/p>\n

The NFL won\u2019t hand out any potential fines until next week after they review all Week 1 games.<\/p>\n

There were a couple of helmet-to-helmet hits on Newton by last year\u2019s Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and defensive end Jared Crick. Miller\u2019s facemask-to-facemask hit occurred while Newton was being sacked by DeMarcus Ware.<\/p>\n

The biggest hit on Newton, however, was delivered by safety Darian Stewart on Carolina\u2019s final possession, leaving the QB motionless on the ground for several seconds. Newton stayed in and led the Panthers into field goal range, although Graham Gano missed a 50-yard attempt that would have given Carolina the lead.<\/p>\n

Stewart said after the game he felt like he led with his shoulder, not his head.<\/p>\n

The NFL released a statement Friday saying medical officials determined Newton didn\u2019t need to leave the game due to injury. It said there was communication between medical personnel on the Carolina sideline, including the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant, and the two independent certified athletic trainer spotters in the booth.<\/p>\n

The release also stated that during stoppage in action the play was reviewed and medical officials determined \u201cthere were no indications of a concussion that would require further evaluation and the removal of the player from the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivera didn\u2019t see a need to sit Newton after the hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to question the doctors, OK? There is a protocol,\u201d Rivera said.<\/p>\n

The NFLPA said it is reviewing whether Newton should have been tested after the hit.<\/p>\n

Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said he didn\u2019t think there was that much contact with Newton\u2019s head during the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw two plays where he left the pocket where there were big collisions,\u201d Kubiak said. \u201cThere were a lot of big collisions in that game. I think we were playing hard. They were playing hard. They knocked the heck out of us, too, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kubiak also doesn\u2019t feel his players were being dirty.<\/p>\n

Rivera knows officials have a difficult job to do, especially when it comes to a player like Newton who runs a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his style of play is different as far as quarterbacks are concerned,\u201d Rivera said. \u201c… It\u2019s so hard to tell whether he is running or going to throw. So that makes it tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kubiak agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the top player in football and they\u2019re designed runs for him,\u201d Kubiak said. \u201cYou\u2019d better tackle him like a back, you\u2019d better treat him that way or you\u2019re going to have a long night as a defensive football team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Panthers coach Ron Rivera wants Cam Newton to receive the same protection on helmet-to-helmet hits as other quarterbacks get in the NFL. Rivera said because of the 6-foot-5, 245-pound Newton\u2019s size and the Panthers\u2019 style of play, Newton often doesn\u2019t draw the flags on hard hits that smaller QBs do. Newton was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-17658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17658"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=17658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}