re: Panthers claim Cam Newton was poked in the eye

y'know, thinking about this, the Panthers should face serious consequences, not just a 100,000 fine.

After the Saints won the Super Bowl, the league went on a witchhunt and eventually suspended our head coach an entire season, several other coaches a bunch of games, one guy got an indefinite suspension that threatened to end his career, and we forfeited draft picks.

All because of "Bountygate", supposedly trying to injure players for competitive advantage... and nobody was injured to the best of my knowledge.

Now, we have the concussion issue swirling around the league, there are numerous new rules in place for safety because the league is getting sued, the actual game is being threatened at some levels... and THIS happens.

At the very best (and what the Panthers are trying to say), Cam just has something wrong with his eye- and he goes down on the field while exiting the game, I guess to, what? Trick the refs into THINKING he is hurt, to buy more time for the backup to warm up? Ok then, he is faking an injury for competitive advantage in a playoff game and the team went along with it (or even encouraged it). If that's the case, there needs to be repercussions, because they are fiddling with the integrity of the game.

On the other hand, he WAS knocked silly, and met every criteria mandated by the league to undergo a thorough examination by an independent neurologist (big blow to the head, lingered on the ground after the hit, couldn't exit the field under his own power without stopping and going back down, sat there blinking both eyes with a dazed look). And the Panthers ignored the rule, and blatantly disregarded their own player's safety, because he's their starting QB and they were in a tight playoff game.

Either way, the Panthers were intentionally breaking the rules at the coaching level and above, during a playoff game. That needs to be addressed.