First, the Carolina Panthers lose their starting quarterback Cam Newton and then Panthers safety Eric Reid called out for helmet-to-helmet hit to Patriots TE Ben Watson.

You could see that New England Patriots tight end Ben Watson was seeing stars after being hit by Eric Reid. He was dazed and confused for a few minutes. Watch the videos on the flip…

Ben Watson leaves the field under his own power but did have his helmet taken from him. The late hit provided by Eric Reid. The two men not seeing eye to eye on Twitter this week fwiw. #Patriots pic.twitter.com/VKJK6X2U9e

— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) August 23, 2019

CelebNSports.com reports that New England Patriots tight end Ben Watson was not a happy camper after he hit the turf and then Panthers safety Eric Reid came in delivering a flying helmet-to-helmet hit.

Man, all we could see is he was having that high pitched ringing in his ears looking around like “what the hell just happened?”

We doubt that Eric Reid was purposely trying to injure Ben Watson.

In fact, Reid Reid had this to say about the helmet hit which is being dubbed a dirty play.

Reid told Ben Watson:

I was just trying to make sure I stopped him before he got to the first down. I talked to Ron (Rivera). He told me it was late. I’ll look at the film, (but) if Ron said it was late I believe him.

Eric Reid on his hit on Ben Watson: “I was just trying to make sure I stopped him before he got to the first down. I talked to Ron (Rivera). He told me it was late. I’ll look at the film, (but) if Ron said it was late I believe him.”

— Joe Person (@josephperson) August 23, 2019

And after a flag flew for unnecessary roughness Reid was there to help:

Eric was seen standing right next to Watson offering to help him stand up. Watson was unable to rise to his feet right away.

Reid did approach Watson after the hit pic.twitter.com/g6fb2T6JaD

— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) August 23, 2019

Despited the comradery, Ben still had to be seen by trainers and also met with concussion specialists. He did not return to the game.

Last week, Eric ripped Jay Z for his disrespect to Kaepernick, which Colin acknowledged and supports Reid.  Kaep and Reid previously played together on the 49ers, but after the drama with Colin, he inked a deal with the Panthers.