Ron Rivera confronts Newton on team bus

Moments later, Thomas shared his thoughts about the injury on Twitter.

Randall Cobb made a snow angel after scoring a touchdown in Green Bay’s win over the Texans at Lambeau Field.

“You have to have amnesia in this game, ” was the way quarterback Russell Wilson put it.

The Seahawks are never going to replace Marshawn Lynch. It’s now happened three times already this year after the Seahawks totaled 534, the third-most the Panthers have allowed in a single game.

If anyone was trying not to mock Cam Newton’s hats, Sunday’s look may have been the last straw.

Now he’s going to have to watch – most likely for the remainder of the year.

Carroll confirmed Monday that Thomas has a broken left tibia (shin bone) and that there is “no shot” he could return to play this season.

Newton missed just one play, but was also just 14-of-32 passing for 182 yards and one touchdown. And they kept their place as the No. 2 seed in the conference. “We play the Chargers and we lost the game yesterday”. “We still had opportunities but we just didn’t capitalize”.

Following an error-filled setback Sunday in Seattle, the great expectations that Rivera and his team understandably held tightly to were replaced by a hard dose of reality that numerous National Football League teams must face this time of year but that the Panthers didn’t see coming.

“Earl’s apt to say something that might surprise you and he did”. It doesn’t fit every situation, and certainly doesn’t fit Cam Newton’s travel wardrobe.

Seattle pulverized the Panthers, 40-7, in primetime Sunday night at CenuryLink Field, where the Panthers now hold a 1-5 all-time regular season record.

“He broke his leg tonight, so I don’t know what that means, but it’s always six weeks anyway”, Carroll said. “The difference was all through the week and his preparation was right on point, his mentality and his physical side”.

“Unbelievable!” teammate Doug Baldwin said.

“I would think it’s a little bit of an exaggeration“. I think that’s quite honestly why it’s being made bigger than it really is. Win one game, prepare that way, execute and win one game. But it was much needed. “But we don’t get to”.

Rawls has such promise, though, and is so obviously a factor to the Seahawks’ prospects for success.

“No. There’ will be none”, Carroll said. The one on fourth down was bad, he needs to at least just chuck it downfield and give someone a shot, rather than taking a sack.

A week later, anything and everything again seems possible for the Seahawks.

The question that was on many minds, of course, was asked out loud on ESPN’s SportsCenter by analyst Ryan Clark: “Why is that a rule, that if you don’t have a tie, you don’t start?” “We need to help our defense out”.

The fact that Thomas was carted off, coupled with the quick strike, took the air out of the typically raucous 12th man, but that didn’t last long because on the ensuing drive Thomas Rawls used a brilliant jump cut to get outside right tackle and raced 45 yards for a TD, his second rushing score of the night.

Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor, two of Thomas’ running mates in the Legion of Boom secondary, weighed in on the possibility of Thomas retiring.

The Seahawks put on their best offensive performance in almost two years Sunday night.