After watching his son take at least four shots to the head during Thursday night's NFL opener, the father of Cam Newton was not a happy camper following the Panthers' 21-20 loss to the Broncos.

During an interview with ESPN on Friday, Cecil Newton ripped the officiating crew that called the game, and also had some harsh words for the league itself.

"I'm beginning to question the consistency of how games are being called -- and who they would call this particular play against versus this particular player," Cecil Newton said. "Was Cam treated differently from other quarterbacks? In this case, yes he was -- clearly. Anybody who has followed the game for any length of time and has a working knowledge of how the game is to be played would agree with that statement."

Newton took at least four shots to the head against the Broncos, which was notable for two reasons: The Broncos were never penalized any yards for the transgressions, and Newton was never asked to enter concussion protocol.

The only time the Broncos did get penalized for hitting Newton, the penalty wasn't enforced because Newton was called for intentional grounding on the play, which led to an offsetting penalty.


Anyway, after watching his son get hit for four quarters, Cecil has come to the conclusion that Cam isn't being treated the same as other NFL quarterbacks.

"People throw all these jingles out there about he's mobile, he's bigger, he's more physical," Cecil said. "There's a lot of this and that. At the end of the day, Cam deserves to be protected just like Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Ryan Tannehill, Kirk Cousins, Andy Dalton, and the list goes on and on."

The reason Cecil was outraged by all the no-calls is because he thought the Broncos were targeting his son, and should've been punished for it.

"I know a good hit when I see a good hit. I was a defensive player and I played the game at the highest level as well," Cecil said. "But when you deliberately target and when you're constantly being hit after the ball is out, I question the intent of the of the defensive player, and I question the official who, basically, if he does not warn them, lets the flow of the game continue."

Cecil also took issue with the fact that his son was never asked to enter concussion protocol. Cam was eventually examined, but only after the game was over.

"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 gong 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."

The father of the Panthers quarterback is also "grossly disturbed" by the league itself. When asked by ESPN if he thinks the NFL has a bias against his son, Cecil said that he believes there's a "hidden bias."

"I'm not just going to always say it's race; I'm not going to keep fanning the flames of race in every situation," Cecil said. "But it causes me to wonder. Help me understand through transparency. Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL, help me understand how this can happen to the reigning MVP. Explain that to me. I'm not going to fan the flames of race in this particular category, but I really sit back and ask myself, 'Would this have happened to some of his other fellow colleagues?' Let the public answer the question for themselves."

Even if you don't agree with everything Cecil says, you can probably agree with one thing: Thursday night's game could've been officiated better.

"I'm just telling you that what I saw last night was reprehensible by NFL standards, and there needs to be some calling out of sorts, to the officiating crew as well as to those players who would be seen on record as taking cheap shots," Cecil said.

The NFL will get a chance to make a statement against the players who hit Newton in the head. Fines for the game will be handed out next week, and if the league wants to send a message, they'll make sure to hand out big fines to anyone who hit Cam in the head.