Cam to Clay Matthews before TD pass: 'Watch this'
Clay Matthews thought he had the Carolina Panthers pegged after doing film study heading into Sunday's tilt in Charlotte. The studious linebacker, coupled with talkative quarterback Cam Newton provided a great on-field back-and-forth early in the game, which was caught by FOX mics.
On the opening drive, the Green Bay Packers linebacker identified a red-zone formation he recognized. Matthews yelled to his teammates to watch running back Christian McCaffrey on the wheel rout.
That's where our fun exchange between Matthews and Newton started:
For those who couldn't catch the on-field banter over Troy Aikman's conversation, below is the transcript:
Matthews: "It's that wheel route. It's that wheel route. I've studied too."
Newton: "You've been watching film, huh?"
Matthews: "Oh yeah."
Newton: "That's cool. Watch this..." (throws touchdown on fake wheel, slant to McCaffrey)
The exchange is fantastic. Matthews saw what he believed was a Panthers' formation tendency, which Newton could have even confirmed by commenting before the snap. If Matthews was correct, the play displayed that the Panthers did a good job of self-scouting and ran a counter for McCaffrey out of the look.