While Cam Newton was quick to deflect away from one specific play changing the course of the Panthers 21-17 win over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field – “it wasn’t a magic play, it wasn’t a magic whatever” – almost everyone else will point their fingers squarely at Torrey Smith.

Down three points, facing a fourth-and-10 at their own 31 yard line, a failed conversion would effectively ice the game; not only would it give the ball to the Eagles already in field goal range, it would likely run the clock down to the two-minute warning and even three stops would give the Panthers the ball back needing a touchdown with no timeouts and about a minute left in the game – and as Michael Bennett and Jordan Hicks collapsed towards Newton, he spotted Torrey Smith past the sticks; a conversion would have been enough, but for Smith to be able to turn the ball upfield and run into field goal range turned a big play into a HUGE one.

Smith now has nine receptions for 104 yards and a touchdown in the past two games after having only seven for 67 yards in his first four games as a Panther.

Check out how some of the players on the field saw it develop:

Torrey Smith: “I was running an inside dig route and I kind of saw Cam pulling up so I knew it wouldn’t be on time, so I stopped to kind of feel out where he was going because I was going to break out while he was scrambling. He ended up getting it off, and I guess Jalen [Mills] kind of slipped behind me and Cam saw it. I honestly don’t know how he got it off – he muscled it out when it got busy. It was huge. In my mind, I knew we had the two-minute coming up, so I didn’t have to try to run out of bounds; I knew that if I caught it, I could fight for extra yards because it wouldn’t take extra time off. I was trying to cut up field and get us in field goal range without having to dink it and dunk it downfield.”

Ron Rivera: “In all honesty, we put ourselves in a tough position and with the fourth-and-10, all we really wanted to do was try and create a little spacing. We saw a couple people juke and then broke him underneath with the deeper routes.”

Greg Olsen: “Obviously, fourth-and-10 isn’t a great situation, but that’s just Cam and Torrey making a great play. It kept our hopes alive.”

Doug Pederson: “We were real close to getting to Cam and getting him on the ground at the time – we were just a step behind.”

Malcolm Jenkins: “It’s tough to cover an NFL receiver for that long – you know it was just a good play made by them.”

Cam Newton: “Well, pardon my English, but it was a shit throw on the play before. I knew I had to come back and put my team in the best situation possible – I just wanted to evaluate the whole circumstance and whatnot. I saw his man had slipped and fell and he was uncovered – wide open. I just knew I had to get the ball in his hands; it wasn’t pretty but the results were.”

After the game, Smith downplayed the leg injury he appeared to suffer on that play – although he stayed on the field, Smith was noticeably limping after the game as he went for x-rays.

“It’s football, you’re always hurt. I’m fine, I’m walking,” said Smith. “I’m not on crutches, no boot, no anything, so I’m walking on my own two feet.”

Josh Klein on Twitter
Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.