http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/sports/football/cam-newton-carolina-panthers-atlanta-falcons.html 2016-10-02 23:28:36 Cam Newton Knocked Out of Carolina Panthers’ Loss to Falcons The Panthers’ star quarterback was taken out of the game for a concussion evaluation in the fourth quarter. === Carolina allowed Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan to torch their defense to the tune of 503 yards in the air — 300 of it going to Julio Jones — but that wasn’t the biggest concern for the The final score was 48-33 in favor of the Falcons, but until the Panthers know the extent of Newton’s injury, things could still get far worse. Newton, who had been having a sub-par effort by his standards with 165 yards passing and 30 yards rushing, was running the ball into the end zone on a 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter when he took a late hit from Deion Jones. The hit appeared to be legal, but that did not stop Newton’s teammates from objecting loudly to it as Newton was clearly scoring on the play. After Newton left, Derek Anderson took over at quarterback for Carolina, and led an 11-play 75-yard touchdown drive that narrowed Atlanta’s lead, but he threw two interceptions in the game’s final two minutes, sealing the Panthers’ fate. It is first time Carolina has lost two straight games since 2014. At his post-game news conference, Coach Ron Rivera of the Panthers acknowledged that Newton likely could have avoided the hit if he had been paying attention, and the team declined to make Newton available to the media citing the league’s concussion protocol. With Newton having already dealt with a few big hits to the head in a Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos the Panthers will likely be cautious before letting him resume football activities. Ryan, who completed 28 of 37 passes and threw 4 touchdowns had the 18th 500-yard passing game since 1960. Jones, who had 12 catches for 300 yards and 1 touchdown, had the fourth 300-yard receiving game over the same time period. He fell 36 yards short of Flipper Anderson’s N.F.L. record, which was set in 1989.