Cam Newton tried the "On to Cincinnati" move when the topic of Ed Hochuli came up on Wednesday -- tried being the operative word.
Newton created a stir Sunday when he told reporters that official Hochuli told him he was "not old enough" to receive a late-hit call during Sunday's win over the Saints. Hochuli denied making the comment.
Newton dodged two initial questions about Hochuli, responding "Focused and moving to Tampa Bay." A reporter later asked if there is a gray area in the late-hit rule and whether it changes on a game-by-game basis.
"I'm not sure. My opinion: Everyone has to be held to a standard," Newton said. "As a referee, as a player, we always have that interaction with the refs and they said before the game, 'You know, I'm here to protect you.' So not digging into what happened, it just has to be brought up that no matter what player I am, what type of talents I have, what I do, as an official, I have to trust that he has my health in his benefit.
"Whatever play is being held, I should never have to question my safety. That's the big thing you have to get from it. Where I'm out there and I do not believe that another person has my best interest, so I can get hit all day and if the flag is not called, then shame on whoever. I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention that, yeah, I may run, you know. Statistics say Cam gets hit more than any other quarterback. Yeah, because I do a lot of running. Yet if it's a late hit, if I'm sliding, I don't want to get hit."
Newton was asked how long he believes he'll have to be in the league to get the call he did not get on Sunday.
"My focus is Tampa Bay Buccaneers."
There you go. Newton obviously is still unhappy with the events of Sunday. We're sure his next interaction with Hochuli won't be awkward at all.
