Ron Rivera says the most famous benching of his Panthers tenure came down to something as simple as a tie.
The former Carolina head coach is still defending the decision to sit Cam Newton for the opening series of a game after Newton broke the team’s dress code by not wearing one. Rivera said the move had nothing to do with Newton being the face of the franchise and everything to do with the standard he expected across the locker room.
“Players want direction. Second, they want consistency. If you’re consistent, you treat everybody the same and do things the right way with them,” Rivera explained.
According to Rivera, Carolina had a clear travel rule: players were required to wear a tie. Newton missed the mark, and Rivera said that meant the quarterback had to be treated the same as anyone else.
“It’s got to be fair. Cam didn’t have a tie. So I treated him just like I did everybody else, and I couldn’t start him,” Rivera said.
He pointed to another example from the same policy. Defensive end Greg Hardy had also been held out for the same reason.
“Greg Hardy didn’t have a tie. I didn’t start him. That was the rule,” Rivera added.
Rivera said plenty of people didn’t buy his explanation when the story first came out, assuming there had to be more to it than a missing necktie. But he maintained that Newton handled it the right way.
“When the news broke that it was over a tie, people didn’t believe me. Cam wanted to play, but he took it the right way.”
The situation got even more dramatic once the game started. Carolina’s backup quarterback threw an interception on the first offensive play, and Newton was ready to jump back in exactly when Rivera had told him he would.
“I told him, ‘You won’t play the first series.’ Our backup quarterback threw an interception on the first play. Cam ran over and said, ‘I’m in next series, just like you said.’”
Rivera said the moment sent the message he wanted: no one was above the rules, no matter how important they were to the team. For him, that was the point all along.
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