[vc_row]So the title of this post is obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek. Something that happened just a few hours ago doesn’t have much history, but since oral histories have been all the rage over the past year or so, here’s one from some who were on the field when Cam Newton and Josh Norman fought Monday morning in Spartanburg.

Head coach Ron Rivera“On the interception, the thing that we preach is that they score. Even though I blew the whistle, Josh kept going like he’s taught, and the offense continued to react. Cam got stiff armed in the helmet, and that’s kind of what escalated it.”Offensive tackle Nate Chandler“I tried to get over there as fast as I could to get him off and keep guys from getting exhausted … Your quarterback gets in a fight you don’t want anyone, especially when his helmet’s not on, taking a shot at him. It’s our quarterback; we have to protect him, so I was just trying to get guys off of him.”Rivera“It’s really that time of year. Guys get into training camp and usually it’s around day nine or 10 and that’s really what happened. You really don’t expect it to be your quarterback.”Chandler“You never know when you’re about to get into a fight. Things just happen in a split second and you might not even know why it happened. Training camp, the dog days, it’s hot out there, it’s muggy. People are gonna fight, it’s natural.”Kalil“It’s just a little training camp tiff. Those are the guys you want on your team who won’t back down, but at the same time, we gotta keep harping composure, and keep composure.”Rivera“The big thing is that we understand, you’re going to get stiff armed in the helmet and you’ve got to handle it. The message to Josh was, ‘Hey, just understand what the situation was, this is one of your teammates, let’s be smart about that.'”Kalil“Obviously if it happens in practice it’s okay as long as nobody gets hurt. We can’t have that in a game situation and that’s something we gotta do a better job of. That’s hurt us before in the past, especially in playoff football, and we have to make sure we do a good job of that.”Rivera“They always chirp, but that’s part of the competition and that’s what happens. The big thing about it too, is that you have to be able to handle it. It’s going to happen in a game and you have to learn that when you get to this situation and this set of circumstances that you deal with it and you handle it, you cope with it and you come back better the next time. I think, unfortunately, it got a little more physical than it needed to be and that’s where everything happened.”Running back Fozzy Whittaker“That’s just how we are. That’s just how people talk. Everybody loves to talk, and people talk. That’s just part of the emotion that is shown in the game and people are going to talk … Honestly to me, I feel like there is no thing. It’s just competition.”

Rivera“I think the thing that a lot of guys took from it is, ‘Hey, [Newton’s] just like any of us. He’s willing to fight.’ There are a lot of things you can spin it one way or the other, that’s the way I’m trying to get. That was my message to the guys. You know how I feel about fighting, I’m not a big fan of it. I know at the end of the day, we have to come back together and be the team that we are. That was the other thing that happened, Cam got up and talked a little bit to the guys about it. He understands his responsibility and he understands what we’re trying to do as a football team.”Whittaker“That was a little bit more personal, and that was kind of a note to us that we’re a family, and we have to stick together … Anytime that a leader steps up and gives words of encouragement, everybody takes that to heart. We know that our main goal and focus is to get better and be one unit when preseason and the regular season starts.”Rivera“The poignant moment as far as I was concerned was when I brought the team up and [Thomas Davis] broke them down and he had us break it down on the word ‘family.’ And that’s what Cam was trying to express.”Kalil“I think [Newton’s] a tough guy and I’ve said that since I’ve played with him. You’ve seen how he’s come back from a car wreck and he takes a lot hits. He’s a running quarterback and he’s taken hits in the pocket when we haven’t blocked so well and he never complains and he gets back up. He’s a tough individual and I think that solidifies his persona that’s who he is. No matter how much they pay him, it doesn’t matter to him. He wants to go out and play as hard as he can and do the best for his team and I think that says a lot about him.”Rivera“[Newton’s] a football player. If he throws an interception, it might mean tackling the guy before he gets to the end zone to give our defense a chance to stop them, then he’s got to do it. He’s a football player, and those are things to be expected … I was fortunate to play with Jim McMahon, and when Jim threw an interception, he was happy to run down and try to make a tackle. I played with Jim Harbaugh, who was happy to play on special teams, a la, Joe Webb, so I’ve been with guys who were like that and felt that part of the game was to be more than just a quarterback and be a football player.”Kalil“I don’t really worry about Cam. I’ve seen him do a lot more dumb things than that, so he’s a big kid. He plays quarterback but he looks like a big defensive end … Getting in those sumo suits and running full speed at another guy was more dangerous than what happens at practice.”Rivera“I don’t worry about it spilling into the dorms. Like Cam said, there are enough quality leadership on this football team that we know how to end things, guys like Thomas Davis and Ryan Kalil, Greg Olsen, Charles Johnson. They know how to handle these type of situations and shut it down. It ended very quickly. Everybody has talked to each other and we’ll be okay.”[vc_raw_html]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[/vc_raw_html]