The Carolina Panthers will be without Jonathan Stewart for at least another week because of a hamstring injury.

Ron Rivera said Thursday that it's clear Stewart won't be ready to face the Atlanta Falcons in Week 4.

That means Cameron Artis-Payne will start with Fozzy Whittaker serving as his No. 2.

Kelvin Benjamin saw just one target and went catchless in Sunday's loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Cam Newton says he won't let that happen again.

"That can't happen. That can't happen. And if I'm speaking for it, that won't happen again," Newton said. "He's too good of a player, as well as Devin (Funchess) and Ted (Ginn) and those guys. Philly (Brown) had a great game, did everything the coaches asked him to do and more. We just have to find ways to stay on rhythm. We weren't running in rhythm and we have to find any and every way to stay in rhythm in a hostile environment."

Several officials with the Carolina Panthers planned to meet Thursday morning to discuss security issues for Sunday's home game against the Minnesota Vikings amidst violent protests in the downtown area.

The protests began Tuesday night after a black Charlotte police officer shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott, who also is black, in an apartment complex parking lot about 15 minutes from Bank of America Stadium.

The protests moved a few blocks from the stadium on Wednesday night, turning violent with gunshots, vandalism and police setting off tear gas bombs in an attempt to break up the protestors.

The Carolina Panthers will be without Jonathan Stewart for at least one week.

Stewart left Sunday's game against the San Francisco 49ers with a hamstring strain.

He is scheduled to undergo an MRI, but Ron Rivera made it clear that the running back could be out "at least a week or two."

The NFL and NFLPA announced Sunday they will initiate a review of the handling of a helmet-to-helmet hit on Carolina quarterback Cam Newton in Thursday night's loss to the Broncos.

The NFLPA announced it would seek a compliance investigation.

The NFL later announced they would also initiate a review of the medical team's response to the hit on Newton.

Newton took at least four helmet-to-helmet hits in Thursday night's 21-20 loss, including one on Carolina's final series. Only one penalty was called.

Medical officials went on the field Thursday night to check Newton after that final helmet-to-helmet hit and determined he showed no signs of a concussion.

Ron Rivera says Cam Newton is a victim of his size when it comes to not getting calls on vicious hits as happened in Thursday night's NFL opener against the Denver Broncos.

Newton, who is 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, received at least four helmet-to-helmet hits according to replays.

"There's a little bit of prejudice to that," Rivera said. "It's kind of like what happened to [former NBA star] Shaquille O'Neal. Here's a big, physical basketball player and he goes to set a pick, a guy falls down and they call a foul on him. He goes to shoot a little layup and gets hacked and hammered and they don't call it."

Cam Newton took several helmet to helmet hits in the Carolina Panthers' 21-20 loss to the Denver Broncos.

Referees only penalized the Broncos on one of the hits, which was actually offset by Newton being called for intentional grounding.

"It starts with the guys who control the behavior on the field," Cecil Newton told ESPN on Friday. "I think the culprit is the mere fact that they allowed the game to get out of control. They allowed players to push the envelope to the very edge. That's my ultimate concern. Whether [league officials] want to go after them or not, fine. But I'm thinking about Cam Newton being healthy today, tomorrow and 25 or 35 years from now."

Newton was not given a sideline test at any point during the game despite their concussion protocol.

"If the league is going to be married to concussion protocol, first of all, start it with the officials because they mandate behavior on the field," Cecil Newton said. "If you're going to be married to the concussion protocol, be consistent with the calls that you're going to get, whether it's Cam vs. Aaron Rodgers or it's Aaron Rodgers vs. Ben Roethlisberger. I didn't see that at all last night. I didn't see any of that at all. And I am grossly disturbed about what I saw."

"It's not my place to question the officials," Newton said after the game. "I really like the officiating crew. It wasn't something I know they did intentionally, but it's not fun getting hit in the head.

"We didn't lose the game off that. I know that for a fact."

Cam Newton didn't feel like he was targeted with helmet-to-helmet hits in Thursday night's game against the Denver Broncos, but his Carolina Panthers teammates disagreed.

A flag was thrown on a hit to the quarterback just once.

"Do you see them calling it?" Thomas Davis asked. "Early in the game, a guy took two, three steps and hit him in the head and they didn't call a penalty.

"We've talked about it ad nauseam. It doesn't matter. They ain't going to change it."

Greg Olsen believes officials need to start treating Newton like an NFL quarterback.

"I know he's the biggest guy on the field, but he's still the quarterback," Olsen said. "We'll see what some of those [helmet-to-helmet hits] look like. Obviously, we got one of them, but we didn't get many yards off of it."

Ron Rivera said a couple of the shots Newton took "were unfortunate," but Rivera didn't want to take a hard line on what happened until after he reviewed film.

"We'll see," he said. "We've got to look at the tapes. I don't want to pass any judgment on that."