Panthers' Cam Newton takes another hit to head, but he gets flag for reaction
LANDOVER, Md. — Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton just can’t catch a break with Walt Coleman and his officiating crew.
On Monday night, Newton, the reigning MVP, took a hit to the head after giving himself up with a slide at the end of a third-and-9 play in the second quarter, but no penalty was called on Washington Redskins linebacker Trent Murphy. Instead, Newton was the one who drew a flag for taunting — when he flipped the ball at Murphy after rising from the turf.
"What I saw was that Cam slid late, and the defender went over the top,” Coleman told Paste BN Sports after the game. “I didn’t see any forcible contact with the head.”
Even though Carolina upset Washington 26-15, the story of the game was Newton and the no-call. Apparently that call to the commissioner didn’t quite do the trick.
On Oct. 30, it was a non-call by Coleman that sparked a Newton outburst that led to a phone conversation between Newton and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Newton said after that Week 8 game that at times he didn’t “feel safe” and called the lack of personal foul flags he draws for hits to the head “horse crap.”
When asked about his history with Newton, Coleman dismissed that it impacted the way he and his crew officiated.
“We just work the game,” he said. “And if it’s a foul, we call it a foul. If it’s not, then we don’t. We just officiate the game and do the best of our ability. So it doesn’t make any difference to us who is playing or who the quarterback is. We’re trying to get the plays correct.”
The hit drew a rash of criticism on social media, mainly because it was Newton who was penalized after showing his displeasure.
“I’ve gotta be better than that,” he told reporters in his postgame press conference. “That just can’t happen on my part. I just have to let the referees do their job. I thought it was a questionable hit, but yeah, I can’t throw the ball at a player. I know that’s against the rules.”
Newton declined to comment further when asked if the referee did his job.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera, however, supported Newton and said he thought it was a helmet-to-helmet blow.
“Without a doubt,” Rivera said. “He felt it. And that’s the thing — when I went over and talked to him really quick, he said, ‘Coach, he hit me.’ I said, ‘OK, that’s all I needed to know,’ and I went from there. Then I got a chance to see it on the screen and had two guys in my ear telling me they saw it on television. Again, (the officials) are trying to judge it full speed.”
After the play, Rivera was engaged in an animated discussion with Coleman and another official while appearing to receive an explanation for the no-call.
According to Rule 7, Section 2, Article 1 of the NFL's rulebook: “A defender must pull up when a runner begins a feet-first slide. This does not mean that all contact by a defender is illegal. If a defender has already committed himself, and the contact is unavoidable, it is not a foul unless the defender commits some other act, such as helmet-to-helmet contact or by driving his forearm or shoulder into the head or neck area of the runner.”
The infraction moved Carolina, ahead 13-3 at the time, out of field goal range.
Washington took the ensuing kickoff and marched for a touchdown, appearing to seize momentum. It wasn’t enough, however, as Carolina recovered and scored 10 unanswered points afterward.
Newton completed 21 of 37 passes for 300 yards two touchdowns to help the Panthers improve to 6-8.
The questionable no-call wasn’t the only hit Newton drew, as Washington registered five total.
“Winning a football game kind of numbs a lot of (pain), so we’ll just have to wait to see how the body feels,” Newton said.
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Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes
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