All the Seahawks knew at first was that Cam Newton wasn’t out there for the first play of Sunday’s game, replaced instead by backup Derek Anderson, who threw a pass that went off the hands of fullback Mike Tolbert and was intercepted by Seattle linebacker Mike Morgan,
“I was surprised,’’ said Seattle defensive lineman Michael Bennett. “I didn’t know why he didn’t start. Maybe he was late to a meeting or something.’’
Then a reporter told Bennett the real reason — Newton didn’t wear a tie during the team’s trip to Seattle from the Bay Area on Saturday (the Panthers had stayed there to practice last week after playing Oakland last Sunday).