Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton will play this week if he is not at risk for further injury, coach Ron Rivera said Monday.

Newton suffered two fractures in his lower back in a car accident last week in Charlotte and did not play in Carolina’s 19-17 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

Newton’s status for the game this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns will be determined by his rehabilitation progress and Newton’s ability to avoid further injury, Rivera said.

“I don’t want to put a guy out there that can’t protect himself,” Rivera told reporters Monday. “It’s being able to run out of the way, scramble out of the way, stay alive, keep the play alive by being able to get away. That’s all part of it. That’s all part of the decision that went into the first Tampa Bay game (which Newton missed with cracked ribs).”

The two wins over Tampa Bay, engineered by backup quarterback Derek Anderson, are the only two games Newton has missed in his four years in the NFL.