Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton isn’t ready to curtail his running, even if it gives him a black eye like it did on the seventh play of Friday night’s preseason victory over the New England Patriots.

Newton landed on his helmet so hard after going up and over a defender at the end of a third-and-9 scramble that his helmet slid down over his left eye and left him with a shiner.

He also was evaluated for a concussion but returned four plays later after being cleared.cheap nfl nike jerseys from china

“It wasn’t no swelling by that time on the field,” Newton said. “I just kept telling them, ‘My eye hurts, my eye hurts.’ It was as if someone poked me in the eye. The helmet just came down. It didn’t feel good.”

Newton said the last time he had a black eye was in middle school.

“You should have seen the other person, what they had,” he said with a smile. “I’m just teasing.”

But the 2015 NFL MVP wasn’t teasing when he said the eye still hurt almost three hours later.

“I feel it growing, too,” he said. “It’s like the pressure of my eye. I’m the unincorporated assigned coach for swag on the Carolina Panthers. I’m still looking to find persons to send these invoices to, because I feel I’m responsible for a lot of people upping their swag, which leads into better game play.

“That’s a different story. I’m not used to seeing myself feel like this. It’s getting to me. What to do? I’m just going to find a lot of ice on this off day and soak in it.”

Coach Ron Rivera would prefer his quarterback not go airborne, particularly in a preseason game, but he knows that’s part of Newton’s DNA.

“I always worry about him,” Rivera said of Newton, who has rushed for more yards (4,320) than any quarterback in the NFL since 2011. “That’s him. He plays to win.

“I’d much rather he didn’t [take chances]. But again, he’s going to give his all.”cheap nike nfl jerseys free shipping

Newton said a lot of things went through his mind as he approached the defender.

“Most importantly I was thinking to myself, ‘It’s preseason. It’s preseason. What do I do?”’ he said. “And I’m like, ‘I want to get a first down, but I want to bring this plane down as smoooooothly as possible.’ I’m thinking all that, my man went low and I tried to avoid the hit and just helicoptered out of there … or whatever, and the helmet came down on my eye.