The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has received a great deal of heat from the press in recent weeks after he claimed he no longer feels safe while in the pocket and isn't having fun anymore. Well, I'm here to say Newton, like all other dual-threat quarterbacks, has a point. While I agree with many of these same critics that the NFL has gotten too protective of quarterbacks overall, dual-threat quarterbacks like Newton tend to be treated differently than traditional drop-back passers by officiating crews, and that's not right. I think this is largely due to many people, officials included, seeing quarterbacks like Newton as running backs behind center as opposed to actual quarterbacks. This shouldn't be the case, though. When a quarterback's behind the line-of-scrimmage, regardless if he has the speed of Michael Vick or Tom Brady, if he's hit in a manner which violates a league rule, the defense should be penalized. Newton might be bigger and quicker than m...