Assuming you watched this week's edition of "Sunday Night Football," you know what happened early in the game. Just before the first snap, word began to circulate that Carolina Panthers backup quarterback Derek Anderson was warming up on the sideline and that Cam Newton was not starting for the Panthers. Then the Panthers took the field and Anderson was indeed in the huddle for the first snap of the game.
For a few minutes, nobody really knew what was going on, but we soon learned that Newton had been benched for what was described at the time as a disciplinary issue. Anderson faked a handoff on the first play of the game, then tried to dump the ball off to Mike Tolbert in the flat. The ball bounced off Tolbert's hands and was picked off, and Seattle kicked a field goal on the ensuing drive. The Seahawks were basically gifted a 3-0 lead a minute into the game.
Details leaked out throughout the rest of the evening and it was eventually discovered that Newton was benched (for one play) for not wearing a tie on the team plane. The Panthers sent out a picture of him boarding the plane on their official Instagram account, with no note that his lack of a tie was a violation of any kind.
The Panthers, of course, went on to get blown out, 40-7. The early field goal didn't cost them the football game. But you know what else didn't lose them the football game? Cam Newton wearing a turtleneck on the plane instead of a tie. Just ask Cam himself.
Newton: "We did not lose this game because of a tie."
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) December 5, 2016
This all seems pretty silly. Yes, the Panthers have team rules and everyone -- including Newton -- should follow them. If the coaches and/or organization feel there should be a punishment for violating team rules, so be it. But if all a violation of team rules brings is a token benching for one play, that's pretty toothless. Especially when it seems like the punishment may have been more than that had the backup quarterback not had his game-opening pass dropped and picked. (There was a report early in the game that Anderson would start but Newton was "expected to play," making it seem like Anderson was in line for more work.) That just makes the whole thing look a bit hypocritical.
