DENVER _ What happened to Cam Newton on Thursday night was an absolute travesty.
I am glad the Panthers quarterback still has his head attached to his body after Denver's 21-20 win over Carolina Thursday night. But that head remains there despite game officials who allowed Denver's players to repeatedly target Newton's head _ without any actual penalty yardage being marked off _ and because the NFL's new and supposedly stronger concussion policy proved to be as weak as a kitten.
No one stopped this fight. And it should have at least been paused several times to check the extent of damage to Newton's brain. How Newton was able to stay in the game without being thoroughly checked several times for concussions after at least four helmet-to-helmet hits is both unfathomable and ridiculous.
"It's not fun getting hit in the head," Newton said about an hour after the game when he met the press. He answered questions diplomatically for someone who had just taken so many blows to the brain, and for someone whose team had lost a one-point game when Panthers kicker Graham Gano missed a 50-yard field goal with nine seconds left.
Newton said he didn't think he was targeted by Denver's defenders, that he "really likes this officiating crew" and that "it is not my job to question the officials."
I usually don't think it's my job to question them, either. Normally I steer away from writing "the refs did the home team wrong" columns when any team from North Carolina loses a game. I think that's almost always a cop-out.
But in this case, after watching numerous replays of all the helmet-to-helmet hits Newton took, I am furious _ and not because of the game's outcome.
