Twenty years ago, defenders bludgeoned the QB with impunity. There is, of course, a delicate balance between protecting and nursing the quarterback. It's all the sub-concussive hits that add up and make these men forget their names and wives and lives by the time they turn 50. Indeed, it doesn't take a knockout, a writhing Newton rolling around the sideline, for these hits to hurt. The contact sounded like Giancarlo Stanton cracking a baseball 450 feet.īut unlike the smaller NBA players who hanged from Shaq's arms like tree limbs, there is a perilous impact to these hits. It will likely start with LB Brandon Marshall, who hammered Newton right in the head, dome-to-dome violence. You'll know the calls they missed when the league announces the list of fines assessed to Denver's defenders. Unless Newton's head hangs from the base of his neck, refs will assume he was tackled legally. Yet he rarely gets the benefit of the doubt. When discussing the top-10 quarterbacks in the NFL, it would be criminal to omit Newton. Newton is fighting for a spot he's already earned - a perch among top rungs of the sport. Players literally launched themselves, head-first, into Newton last night. And he surely shouldn't pay for it with his health. So what? He shouldn't pay for his poor sportsmanship now. The Denver Broncos literally slapped the smile right from his face. It was bad optics, and in direct contradiction to his public, fun-first coda. Sure, we were all irked by his post-game pout following Super Bowl 50. As far as sins go, Newton's are innocuous. He's a young man playing a kid's game and enjoying the heck out of it. In a league that has employed Aaron Hernandez, Ray Rice, Rae Carruth and Greg Hardy, Newton is a virtual saint. Yet it's hard to think of anyone more vilified. He gives the league perfect PR photo ops every Sunday.
His greatest crime is bad dancing and handing the pigskin to screaming kids. In a very real sense, he's a model NFL citizen. He has no criminal reputation, rap sheet or entourage. Newton has kept his childishness to the turf.
Newton's antics have spawned an army of detractors. It's not confidential that his dabbing and other spastic gridiron dances have chafed his foes and critics.
It's no secret that Cam has ruffled a few feathers. Likewise, Tom Brady would have had a police escort after the first hit. Had Peyton Manning been similarly smashed last night, the refs would have needed Tommy John surgery from flipping the flag so frequently. So why won't we implore the NFL to address the way it regards or regulates Cam Newton? We all pointed to the league-wide hypocrisy of the NBA, lamented the "Hack-a-Shaq" game plan. Unlike Cam, Shaq was not polarizing or controversial. Shaq managed to have fun without offending us. You won't hear a national chorus in Cam Newton's defense.
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