Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton will try to win his first Super Bowl tomorrow night against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. As part of media obligations this week, he gave an interview to [a]list about one of his passions off the field: video games.
Newton has talked a lot before about his love of video games, but says in the new interview that the time he spends playing games has no bearing at all on his real-world performance.
“It has nothing to do with real football, but it’s just great to see what you do on actual Sundays and see it come to life in the video game,” Newton said.
Asked about the version of Cam Newton in Madden NFL 16 and how closely it resembles him in real life, Newton said he’s blown away by way the developers at EA Sports were able to do.
“Unreal,” he said. “You know. I find myself in awe just looking at like, ‘Oh my God that looks just like me.’ And when I have family members come over and they see me playing with my character and they’re like, ‘Man, I thought that was real because that the graphics are just ridiculous now.'”
Newton also provided some advice for people playing Madden NFL 16 as the Panthers, saying he recommends handing the ball to…Cam Newton.
“I would have to say when the game is on the line put the ball in Ace Boogie’s hands,” he said, referencing the rap name Newton gave himself. “He seems to get me out of a lot of situations and get me over that losing hump and maybe win a lot of football games. So if it works for me, I’m pretty sure it will work for them too.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Newton also says he’s probably better than all of his teammates at Madden.
“I don’t wear No. 1 for nothing,” he said. “It’s kind of like a hit, but I will say I’m a pretty good Madden football player. I’m a Madden connoisseur for all type of years dating back, and it’s great to have my thumbs be so talented.”
You can read the full [a]list interview here. He also talks about his Madden rating, how his 2014 car crash affected his life, and why he wore those pants.
Madden’s annual Super Bowl simulation predicts that the Panthers will beat the Broncos tomorrow in a close game, the win ultimately secured by, you guessed it, Cam Newton.
In other news, Madden NFL 16 is now free on Xbox One with EA Access and a Super Bowl Edition of the game is available for less than $20 on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
Super Bowl 50 takes place Sunday, February 7, starting at 3:30 PM PDT / 6:30 PM EST. The game airs on CBS, whose parent company, CBS Corp., also owns GameSpot.