Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton on Wednesday tried to avoid getting sucked back into a conversation he started, but he didn't remain completely silent.

When asked about the accusation he made Sunday, that referee Ed Hochuli told him "you're not old enough" to get a roughing the passer call, Newton said, "I'm focused and moving forward to Tampa Bay."

But when a reporter wondered if Newton stood by his comments now that Hochuli has denied them, Carolina's quarterback replied:

"Well, did you expect him to say anything else?"

Because Newton is 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, there's a perception some refs don't treat him like others at his position.

“The problem is Cam doesn’t get treated like a quarterback because he doesn’t look like a quarterback," tight end Greg Olsen said Monday.

But according to STATS, since Newton came into the league in 2011, opponents have been penalized for 30 personal fouls against him, the most of any quarterback. Of course, he's also rushed and been hit more than any quarterback in that time, which makes what can often be a grey area even greyer.

"In my opinion, everybody has to be held to be held to a standard," Newton said. "[The refs] say before the game, 'I'm here to protect you.' So not digging into what happened, it just has to be brought up that no matter what kind of player I am, what type of talents I have, 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.

"I could get hit all day, and if the flag is not called, then shame on whoever. But I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention that yeah, I may run, there's the statistics that Cam gets hit more than any other quarterback. Yeah, because I do a lot of running. But yet, if it's a late hit, if I'm sliding, I don't want to get hit."