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Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton throws under pressure from Arizona Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell in the second half of an NFL game in Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016.

(AP Photo)

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton said he's reached his "breaking point" with NFL officials.

In the Panthers' 30-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, Newton was hit in the lower leg while throwing a pass by Arizona defensive end Calais Campbell, leaving the former Auburn star on the turf in pain, although he stayed in the game.

No penalty was called.

"There's rules set in place that if you get hit like this, if you get hit after the throw, the penalty's supposed to be thrown," Newton said during his postgame press conference. "... I could have torn my ACL. That's the breaking point."

The game was being televised by FOX, and FOX Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira said, "In this case, to me, it was the shoulder to the knee area, and that would make it forceful. In this case, I clearly do think it was a foul."

This hit on Cam Newton should have been a penalty. pic.twitter.com/VA8Q3ooTvy — Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) October 30, 2016

Newton said he does not feel safe on the field because of the way that NFL officials call the game where he's concerned, and he plans to take his complaint all the way to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

"It's been really taking the fun out of the game for me," Newton said. "Honestly, it really is because at times I don't even feel safe. And enough is enough. I plan on talking to Commissioner Goodell about this. But it's not fun, and I don't know what I have to do. I showed a lot of frustration today, and I apologized to the referee I was talking to, but I don't think a person can go through what I go through and still keep their head. Hits to the head, that's one thing. But when you're not protected in the pocket, that's another thing. The story of my life ever since I came in is, 'Oh, Oh, we missed that one. I'm sorry. I'll try to get it.' That's bull crap. That's bull crap.

"As players in this league, we do something stupid, we get fined. If we do something derogatory to someone else, we get fined. And I just can't keep accepting, 'We missed that one,' or 'I apologize for doing that,' or 'I didn't see it.' That's horse crap. That's horse crap. And coming from a person who has been fined before, coming from a person that everybody's expecting a lot from -- and I'm still growing -- yet when you constantly see the hits, when you constantly see flags being picked up, when you constantly see flags not being thrown and to see other quarterbacks getting it -- lesser hits, lesser physical hits -- then it's taking the fun for me out."

Newton said other players get the calls that he doesn't.

"For every hit that they get that's called, I can match a hit in my career that I didn't get called," Newton said.

Newton's complaint isn't the first time it's been heard this season. But it's the first time from him.

In Carolina's season-opening game against the Denver Broncos, Newton absorbed hits from Brandon Marshall and Darian Stewart that resulted in those players being fined by the NFL. Marshall's hit did not draw a penalty in the game. Stewart's hit, which briefly knocked out Newton and resulted in an investigation to see if the NFL's concussion protocol had been followed, did draw a flag. But offsetting penalties nullified the play.

After that game, Carolina coach Ron Rivera said because Newton is 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, he doesn't get the calls that less physically imposing quarterbacks receive.

"It's kind of like what happened to (former NBA star) Shaquille O'Neal," Rivera said. "Here's a big, physical basketball player and he goes to set a pick and a guy falls down and they call a foul on him. He goes to shoot a little layup and he gets hacked and hammered and they don't call it. At least that's the way I look at it."

Rivera said Newton doesn't get star treatment either, even though he was the NFL's MVP for the 2015 season.

"I'd love to see him start getting some of that veteran favoritism," Rivera said in September. "That'd be cool. Again, it's a very difficult thing the referees have to do. That's the first thing. They have to be able to get all the angles. If they don't have a good angle, they may not see what we see or what the folks viewing it on TV see or the people that are covering it see. And that's in slow motion, which makes things look even worse, a little more exaggerated. Again, I really don't know. I'm not the doctor, again. This is just my opinion. I just happened to play nine years, coached 20 some odd years."

Newton also was knocked out of a game on Oct. 2, suffering a concussion that kept him from playing in Carolina's next game. No penalty was called on the hit that injured Newton.

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Against Arizona on Sunday, Newton completed 14-of-27 passes for 212 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 43 yards on seven carries.

The Panthers broke a four-game losing streak.