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Bremen, KS | My impression at the time, and this was probably in response to Phil Simms going ballistic at that point, was that he didn't want to risk injury. Maybe that is a chicken decision in retrospect, but at that time two of the Panthers linemen were out due to injuries and so was his favorite receiver for failing the concussion protocol. If he were to get injured or concussed he would have been of no help to his team either.
Suppose he'd have dove into the scrum and had his throwing hand injured or had been concussed. I suspect the media would have been up in arms about that and would have gone off on the tangent that he was too valuable to his team to risk himself like that. Yadda, yadda, yadda.
It was really a no-win situation for him.
Sure, had he recovered it and then led the team down the field (a long shot by that point) he would have been named with the greats. The chances of all that occurring were in the low single digits by that point, IMO.
I'm not trying to cover for him. It is what it is and I'm not really sure just what everyone is so worked up over. That one play didn't lose the game for Carolina. There had been a long string of plays where the execution failed prior to that play. Also, there was probably the best defense he has ever played against on the other side of the ball all night which had something to do with all of that as well.
It remains to be seen in the years to come how all of this affects him, his team mates, and his coaches, as well as the Panthers organization.
Edited by Nate B. 2/9/2016 19:54
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cam newton goes after the fumble
