Matthew Stafford has an audible named after his buddy Clayton Kershaw

We found out Monday night that Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford has an audible he named after his childhood pal and baseball superstar Clayton Kershaw. It’s a good thing Stafford used it now, because “Kershaw” probably won’t be any good in October.

Jokes aside, you hear some fun stuff when you listen to audibles, most notably when Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers called out “New York Bozo” as Chris Christie was in attendance. On Sunday, Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr checked to a play called “Seattle” and then threw it instead of handing off to Marshawn Lynch at the goal line, which was (probably) an unintentional and humorous callback to the Seahawks’ famously bad Super Bowl play call.

[Watch on Yahoo: Ravens vs. Jaguars live from London Sept. 24]

In the third quarter against the New York Giants, Stafford didn’t like the play that was called so he changed it at the line of scrimmage by shouting out Kershaw’s name. It’s hard to figure out why “Kershaw” was a check to a run off tackle for Lions running back Theo Riddick, but that’s what it was.

It would have seemed more appropriate for it to be a play to the left because Kershaw is a left-handed pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but it must make sense to Stafford. And it did work pretty well: Riddick gained 8 yards.

ESPN heard the audible too and that led to the well-worn story of how Stafford and Kershaw grew up together in the Dallas area. Although most of us know the story by now, it is amazing how two of the most notable athletes in sports were friends as kids.

Kershaw probably wasn’t watching since he was pitching on Monday night for the Dodgers against the Philadelphia Phillies (and giving up his first grand slam), but he still got a shout-out from his friend anyway.

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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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