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."