Ed Hochuli insists he never said Cam Newton wasn’t old enough to get call, NFL exec says

NFL referee Ed Hochuli is “adamant” that he never told Carolina quarterback Cam Newton that he’s too young to get a personal-foul call Sunday in a game against New Orleans, according to league vice president of officiating Dean Blandino.

After the Panthers’ 27-22 victory, Newton spoke about what he thought should have been a penalty on Tyeler Davison during the fourth quarter. The fifth-year player said he couldn’t believe the explanation he received from Hochuli as to why no flag was thrown.

“The response that I got was, ‘Cam, you’re not old enough to get that call,’” Newton said. “I’m looking at him like, ‘What?’

“I didn’t think you had to have seniority to get a personal foul or anything like that.”

Video from after the play shows Hochuli saying something to Newton after the play, with the quarterback then stopping in his tracks and the referee walking away while shaking his head.

Blandino said Monday on the NFL Network that he talked to Hochuli about the incident.

“Ed was adamant that he did not say that,” Blandino said. “He said [to Newton] that the difference is you were running. I think if you look at the tape it looks like Ed does say that at one point — you can’t see everything that Ed says. But he’s adamant he didn’t say it, and I think that’s where we are right now and we’re just going to kind of move on from there.”

He added that Hochuli made the correct on the play, because Newton was outside the pocket and on the run when it happened.

Blandino also addressed the notion that veteran players are often favored by the officials.

“I know that’s the perception and I think that’s something people do believe,” Blandino said. “Personally, from my perspective, that’s not what we teach. We don’t teach who the player is.”

Newton threw for 315 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score as Carolina improved to 3-0 on the season for the first time since 2003, the only season the Panthers have been to the Super Bowl.