New Panthers play caller shares hilarious first meeting with Cam Newton

Jeff Nixon is taking over the play calling duties for the Carolina Panthers, and he isn’t the only one to switch jobs in Charlotte this season. 

His new quarterback, Cam Newton, is back under center for the Panthers, and Nixon recently detailed the first time the two encountered each other 10 years ago. 

Per Joe Person of The Athletic, Nixon first saw Newton at the 2011 NFL Combine. As Nixon was rounding a corner, the 6-foot-5 quarterback bumped into Nixon and “literally knocked (him) over.” At the time, Newton was leaving Auburn for the NFL, while Nixon was a running backs coach for the Miami Dolphins. Nixon added Newton was “humongous.”

Newton will be playing in his fourth game since returning to his old team, and last week’s performance was by far his worst of the season. He completed just five of his 21 pass attempts for 92 yards and threw two interceptions. Of the 92 yards, 64 of them were gained on a single pass play. After two straight losses, dropping the team back below .500, Nixon was called upon to work with the offense in his new capacity.

Nixon has been a coach since 1997 in several jobs both in college football and in the NFL. He has primarily been a running backs coach, but the Pennsylvania native and Penn State graduate has added tight ends, wide receivers and special teams to his resume. He also was a co-offensive coordinator at Baylor prior to coming to Carolina.

Anderson: ‘It’s still the same offense’

Nixon coached his first full practice with his new duties on Wednesday, as the Panthers prepare to host the divisional rival Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. While a new face is making the decisions, the skeleton of the offense for the Panthers remains largely the same. 

“I mean, it’s still the same offense,” wide receiver Robby Anderson said, via the Panthers website. “Obviously, we’re looking to reset and go in a new direction and get back to things that were working for us on a consistent basis, but I wouldn’t say we’re installing and doing a bunch of new things. Still our bread and butter, what works for us, and what we’ve been doing.”

Both the Panthers and the Falcons are 5-7, and there is a three-way tie for second place in the NFC South between them and the New Orleans Saints. Carolina is looking to take sole possession of second place.