CHARLOTTE – Head coach Ron Rivera believes medical personnel and game officials took the proper steps to make sure quarterback Cam Newton could safely continue to play in the waning moments of the Panthers' physical season opener Thursday night in Denver.
Rivera just wishes that game officials would have taken more steps – and had the power to take even more steps – to protect Newton from so many bone-jarring hits in the first place.
Multiple hits to Newton's head didn't draw flags, but they did draw the attention of personnel charged with looking for concussion-like symptoms on the fly, and it was deemed that Newton could continue playing.