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.”