It was what should have been a routine flag on the Washington Redskins for unnecessary roughness, one that gets called basically every single time around the league. A quarterback gives himself up by sliding feet first, concurrently, a defender leaves his feet to make the tackle and ends up hitting the quarterback. This particular case had the added exclamation point of a hit to the head.

Like most of the hits, they are not intentional. They happen quickly, and as stated above, the defender has left their feet and can’t control how he ends up making contact. But intent does not matter in the NFL. It never has. The rules are clear... hitting a sliding quarterback is a penalty. Hitting a player in the head is a penalty. Both fouls were committed, and no flag was thrown.

"That was a sliding QB and you have helmet to helmet contact. You should have had a call there." - Gerry Austin pic.twitter.com/44x2iaIYof — NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) December 20, 2016

Well, no flag on Washington at least. Just to stick the finger in the bullet wound and twist it a little, the official who saw the whole thing happen at point blank decided to flag Cam Newton for taunting.

Just in case that isn’t clear... Cam Newton suffered two flaggable offenses in full view of an official, but was instead flagged himself for getting up and tossing the ball at the feet of the guy who just hit him illegally.

I wish I could say I made that up, but unfortunately, I’m not that talented at writing farce.

This is just the continuation of a pattern that has been happening to Cam Newton for years now. It really truly started when he called out Ed Hochuli, the godfather of all NFL officials, for telling him “You’re not old enough to get that call” and has continued throughout this season... most notably in the season opener against the Denver Broncos.

Related NFL Disgraces its Player Safety Message by Allowing Headhunting Against Cam Newton

You’ll remember in that game that Cam Newton suffered at least four blatant hits to the head that should have been called, with potentially a couple more iffy ones, but never drew the yellow hankie. If you’ve forgotten, feel free to read the link above. This is what got the conversation started, but throughout the year, Cam continued to suffer hits to his head, to the point where he requested a one on one conversation with Roger Goodell himself. After that conversation, Cam has been the recipient of a couple of flags, but not nearly on par with other quarterbacks in the league.

Heck, it wasn’t even called the same in this very game. Kirk Cousins drew a unnecessary roughness penalty out of Kawann Short, when Short pushed him out of bounds while still in the field of play. Cousins proceeded to do a bunch of barrel rolls on the ground and very dramatically rolled all the way into a cheerleader, and flags started flying like the fourth of July. It was a borderline call, Cousins had not given himself up at the time, but one I expected the refs would make... and they did. Meanwhile, as stated earlier, Cam Newton doesn’t even receive the benefit of an obvious call.

Cam Newton is treated differently from other NFL quarterbacks. There is no denying or speculating on that anymore. The question is why that is the case. Why would the referees all have such a big ax to grind that they completely ignore the rules when violations impact Cam Newton?

Could it be that:

Cam Newton called out Ed Hochuli for the aforementioned “You’re not old enough”

Panthers owner Jerry Richardson wanted to “dig-in” against the NFL referees during their labor strike?

Something stupid like Cam Newton is bigger than other quarterbacks and therefore doesn’t deserve equal protection under the rules?

Or something that is 100% baseline petty, like Cam Newton being an animated and happy individual who likes to have fun while playing the game?

I’m trying to keep this article light, because the last time I wrote about this topic, it was after Cam took so many serious blows to his head that I was genuinely concerned whether he would survive the season. The hit he took last night was pretty minor by comparison and not intentional. But the fact remains...

IT WAS STILL A FOUL.

Not only was it a clear foul, it was committed in full view of an official with a totally unimpeded view of the play. Who then had the nerve to throw the flag, but penalize Cam Newton instead. And in true NFL form... the league office is already in full denial mode despite the rule book being tossed in their face.

@Edwerderespn Respect your work, so please pass this excerpt from the rule book to @DeanBlandino , since he obviously hasn't read it. pic.twitter.com/erLQtJjDKH — Danny Guy (@danny_g13) December 20, 2016

Note: the above reference is to Rule 7, Section 2, Article 1 of the NFL Rule Book

It is becoming sickening to Carolina Panthers fans especially, but also to all rational fans of the NFL in general. Two major primetime games that were broadcast nationally, and in each one Cam Newton sustained unflagged hits to the head. What a shock that...

Ratings are down. Quality of play is down. Players are retiring earlier.

Your Move... NFL.