Bart Scott

Former Ravens and Jets LB, analyst

What challenges does Thomas Davis face playing with a cast on his arm two weeks after breaking it?

“It’s tough because we play with our hands and the majority of the time we’re pushing somebody off of us, disengaging, trying to walk off blocks or taking on fullbacks. It will be interesting to see how strong the support is if he falls to the ground and needs to catch himself while falling. If I’m the Denver Broncos, I’m trying to cut his legs out to make him have to support himself and fall. That’s just the nature of the beast.”

What changes have you seen in Newton the past couple years?

“I think when they got rid of Steve Smith, he became the unquestioned leader in that locker room, especially from an offense standpoint. I think Mike Shula has to get a lot of credit too for designing an offense that suited Cam. He didn’t try to say, ‘This is my system, you have to learn how to play in my system.’ Instead, he said, ‘These are the things that you do well, and we’re going to force teams to beat us at what you do best.'”

Newton said last week he feels part of why he’s criticized is because he’s a black QB. Do you agree?

“Sometimes we don’t understand why we’re criticized unfairly, but it just happens. I loved Tim Tebow, but I never understood why he got more coverage, why he was part of the conversation as a backup. You can’t explain certain things, and why Cam is unjustly criticized — who knows? I’m sure everybody does it for different reasons, and he voiced some of his frustrations, but I don’t know if it’s completely accurate. It could be. I think we should be highlighting this guy and putting him on a pedestal and saying, ‘This is how we want to see the game played. This is how our superstars should act.’ Like showing up for Halloween? Unfortunately, that doesn’t make Page Six. That doesn’t make the back pages. That’s not splashy. Nobody wants to hear about a nice guy making a lot of money doing a lot of nice things.”

How tough is it for a defender to tackle Newton?

“When you see him go airborne against a linebacker, you don’t feel sorry for him. You feel sorry for the linebacker.”