Unflagged Hits on Newton Reveal Officials Are Compromising Player Safety

Another obvious hit to the head of Cam Newton. Another non-call. And here we are again talking about the miserable, disgraceful, awful state of NFL officiating.            

I could list the reactions I received from players around the league over the Newton hit in texts to me Monday night and Tuesday morning. I could write about how one longtime veteran player believes there was significant bias against Newton from some game officials. Or how another player thinks there needs to be a union investigation into the state of officiating. Or about the anger players felt watching Newton take a hit to the head with no call…again. And some of these were players who don’t even necessarily like Newton.  

The disgust was palpable. And it wasn’t just players. ESPN’s Michael Wilbon wondered in an epic Twitter rant if there’s a conspiracy against Newton. Yes, I could list all of these reactions, but there’s a bigger issue—that we are reaching the point where officiating is getting so putrid, so incompetent, it is compromising player safety.

The officiating crew should be suspended rest of season for flagging the reaction and not the hit to Cam’s head. Disgraceful…

— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) December 20, 2016

I’m always ripping Newton for whining but everything he says about the NFL refs not protecting him like the Golden Boy QBs is true…

— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) December 20, 2016

THAT non-call makes me wonder if there is an agenda against Newton…it was right in the open and unmistakable. The league has to take…

— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) December 20, 2016

…action against the official in question when the incompetence is that glaring. Walt Coleman our someone on his crew has to go down!

— Michael Wilbon (@RealMikeWilbon) December 20, 2016

And that should be what concerns the NFL most about the flagless call on the Newton hit. The league continues to hurt not only its own product with these high-visibility officiating misses, but also its own players. It’s a growing crisis that compromises one of the league’s central tenets—that it cares about player safety.

The play itself was typical of the state of the NFL now. Newton was hit on the head while sliding—a clear penalty—but Newton’s throwing the football at Washington linebacker Trent Murphy is what drew a quick flag.

This is peak NFL. The refs don’t throw a flag for the initial offense, but the reaction to it. Taunting is treated like a mortal threat. So is something harmless like showmanship, such as Ezekiel Elliott’s jumping into a Salvation Army canister. Or if, …

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