If it were up to Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera, quarterback Cam Newton should never had his post-Super Bowl press conference.
At league meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., Rivera suggested Wednesday that players on the losing Super Bowl team should not be interviewed after the game.
Following Carolina's 24-10 loss to the Denver Broncos, Newton was surrounded by inquiring media. Newton frowned, shook his head and at times looked exhausted and thoroughly disappointed. The press conference last fewer than three minutes. Newton's answers included:
"They just played better than us."
"No."
"We lost."
And "they outplayed us."
Newton, an Atlanta native who played high school football in College Park before winning a national title at Auburn, was highly criticized for this reaction. Newton freely admitted he was a "sore loser."
Rivera, for one, appreciates that Newton admitted to being a poor loser, saying, "he told the truth."
The issue still upsets Rivera. His voice becoming more and more agitated, Rivera went on a lengthy discourse Wednesday about the subject.
Rivera said that his quarterback's "raw emotion" was predictable, and perhaps engrossed by having losing players answer questions in the vicinity of players from the winning team.
"They shouldn't put the two teams in the same room," he said. "Maybe a solution is that."
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