ifwt_cam_headhits

Cam Newton took a lot of punishment at the hands of the Broncos defense last night and plenty of people are upset that Cam didn’t go through the proper concussion protocol. Some of the hits were legal, with a couple definitely being illegal, although the refs only threw a penalty flag on one occurrence. Cam took the high road after the game, refusing to criticize the refs but the bigger issue is the fact he may have been playing with a concussion and nobody seemed interested in putting him through the proper testing. After the game we found out that Cam was indeed asked a few questions related to the protocol but he couldn’t even remember what they were.

@IamJoeSports

In case you missed them, check out the different hits that Cam took to the helmet.

All of the Head to Head hits on Cam Newton

As I mentioned before, Cam took the high road after the game, choosing not to talk about the refs, even though they clearly missed numerous chances to throw a flag to protect the quarterback.

Cam’s press conference was actually delayed because he was getting treatment in the Panthers locker room pertaining to the hits he took. He said he was asked questions about the hits and the concussion protocol but he couldn’t remember any of the questions because he had a lot of on his mind. While that may be true, it’s very logical to also consider he had a tough time remembering because those head shots took a toll on him.

Not surprisingly, the NFL and people on the Panthers sideline seemed just fine with the hits Cam took. According to NFL reporter Ian Rapoport, there was communication on the sideline but it was essentially a joke.

“During stoppage in play while on-field officials were in the process of administering penalties, the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant and team physician requested video from the spotters and reviewed the play. They concluded there were no indications of a concussion that would require further evaluation and the removal of the player from the game”.

How ignorant does that sound? They watched video and determined in their own mind that Cam was fine, rather than really pressing the issue with him personally and putting him through test. Another example of the league only trying to show they care about players when it’s convenient for them to do so.

His Panthers teammates were not happy with the hits after the game and were much more vocal about it than Cam was.

“Early in the game, a guy took two, three steps and hit him in the head and they didn’t call a penalty,” Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis said. “We’ve talked about it ad nauseous. It doesn’t matter. They ain’t going to change it.”

Panthers tight end Greg Olsen also questioned the referees’ non-calls. “I know he’s the biggest guy on the field, but he’s still the quarterback,” Olsen said. “We’ll see what some of those [helmet-to-helmet] hits look like. Obviously, we got one of them, but we didn’t get many yards off of it.”

Lets just hope Cam is fine and can use the extra rest to his benefit. Some players on the Broncos should be expecting phone calls from the league office regarding fines for their hits even though there was only one penalty called.