Greg Olsen Talks on Player Safety After Hits to Cam Newton vs. Broncos

Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen questioned the legitimacy of the NFL's increased emphasis on player safety after multiple hits to Cam Newton's head went unpunished last Thursday night in a 21-20 loss to the Denver Broncos. 

Black and Blue Review shared a video clip of Olsen's comments:

After the game, NFL Media's Judy Battista spoke to a league source who said the officiating crew missed at least one flag for a personal foul committed against Newton.

Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman thought the game was reminiscent of a different era in the NFL:

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It will be this: There has rarely, if ever, in the recent history of the NFL—which is supposed to now care about head trauma—been a quarterback treated with such ugly, disgraceful and blatant disregard for his health as [Newton] was on Thursday.

The Broncos earned this win, so please, do not misunderstand. But what happened to Newton is truly unprecedented, in the past decade at least. Newton was treated like a quarterback playing in the 1970s, not a quarterback playing in a league that says—all the time—how it cares about its concussed players. This was like watching Ken Stabler play.

"

In addition to criticizing the refs' failure to penalize the Broncos properly, many took issue with the fact Newton continued to play despite looking less than 100 percent. NFL Media's Ian Rapoport shared a statement from a league spokesman addressing the situation:

ESPN's Andrew Brandt wasn't buying the explanation, though:

Both the NFL and NFL Players Association will look into the circumstances regarding whether medical personnel properly followed the league's concussion protocol before deeming Newton healthy enough to play, per CBSSports.com's Jason La Canfora.

Panthers head coach Ron Rivera said Monday that the reigning MVP has passed various concussion tests and should be ready to play Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers, per the Associated Press' Steve Reed. Rivera also defended Carolina's medical staff, pointing to how it handled Luke Kuechly's concussion last season.

"You look at how Luke was taken [care] of last year and I have a tremendous amount of confidence in our doctors and our medical staff," Rivera said.