Cam Newton took the beating of his football life on Monday night, getting sacked nine times in an embarrassing blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Newton clearly wasn't moving well as the game progressed, making Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera's decision to play his franchise star well into garbage time even more surprising.
Fox Sports' Mike Garafolo reported Tuesday that Newton has a right foot injury the Panthers believe was caused by the quarterback compensating for persistent soreness in his surgically repaired left ankle.
Rivera shot down that report on Tuesday in explaining that Newton isn't hurt at all.
"I'm not sure where all that came from," Rivera said, "but he's not injured."
The Panthers coach then elaborated on his thoughts regarding his quarterback's playing shape.
"I think that he's playing at the best condition he's going to play in," Rivera added. "This is Week 11, Week 12. We haven't had the bye yet. He's about as healthy as he's going to be, and that's pretty much true for anyone who plays this game."
If this were Dateline, this would be the part of the episode where Rivera declines to take a lie detector test then asks to see his lawyer.
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