Ron Rivera has no clue whether or not star quarterback Cam Newton will be available for the Monday Night Football contest with the Buccaneers, according to the AP’s Steve Reed.
Ron Rivera said he has no idea about Cam Newton's status for next Monday night.
— Steve Reed (@SteveReedAP) October 3, 2016
That’s not great news with the 1-3 Panthers heading into a contest trying to make the playoffs again this coming season.
Newton is in the concussion protocol after taking quite a few hits during the first four weeks of the season. He took a nasty shot from Falcons rookie linebacker Deion Jones in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s contest, knocking him out of the game.
Cam Newton has been sacked 13 times this year and hit 28 on passing downs pic.twitter.com/ZDkGf93wj4
— Sportsnaut (@Sportsnaut) October 3, 2016
The Panthers starting quarterback has been sacked 13 times during the first four weeks of the season and hit 28 times on drop backs. That doesn’t include the times he’s taken some monster hits running the ball.
So, it’s very understandable why he was so susceptible to getting knocked out on the hit from Jones during the Falcons game. .
Newton is one of the biggest stars in the league after his breakout campaign in 2015, but has been off to a slow start this year for the Panthers.
He is the unquestioned leader for Carolina, though. So if the Panthers are missing him, they will be hard-pressed to bring the same fire they had without him.