First up is offensive tackle Taylor Moton Graham Gano Jersey , who continues to play at a high level. Make that the highest.Yes you read that right, ‘First’! I can’t remember the last time we had an offensive tackle rank first in something other than false starts.It was apparent early on that the Panthers’ quarterback was not having his best day throwing the ball, with one monster exception: Moving to the defense, it was also apparent early in the game there would be little room between the tackles for Giants rookie running back sensation Saquon Barkley.On the flip side the Panthers didn’t get much pressure on Giants quarterback Eli Manning (one sack). I can give them something of a break for favoring the run defense. Stopping Barkley had to be a priority and pass rushing specialist Julius Peppers was up for the task.I figured Peppers would get the start and I was okay with that. I just expected him to be a liability in run support. That was not the case, so hat tip to Peppers for a nice performance. I would have taken a couple of sacks as well but hey, let’s save those for next week. Here’s the top grades on both sides of the ball.A couple of the usual suspects in defensive tackle Kawann Short and linebacker Luke Kuechly. I’m surprised safety Mike Adams isn’t on the list given his two interceptions.On offense Taylor Moton wasn’t the only lineman to have a good day.So I wonder what running back Christian McCaffrey did wrong to be graded lower than a 66? Welcome to the newest weekly feature here at Cat Scratch Reader. Ron Rivera has a long and celebrated history of being aggressively conservative in games Daryl Williams Jersey , despite his old “Riverboat” gambler nickname. He plays not to lose. He turtles up. If that seems absolutely daft to you — if you think NFL teams should play to win, for example — then this is the place for you.Against the Cowboys, the Panthers made the choice to “burn clock” in the traditional way and minimize the risk of Cam Newton turning the ball over by throwing an interception. Newton has, over his career, thrown an interception on 2.7% of his passing attempts. He did not throw one at all on Sunday. Instead of taking that extraordinary risk, the Panthers elected to keep the ball safely on the ground and ultimately handed the Cowboys an opportunity to tie the game in the final minutes.Running the ball wasn’t necessarily the problem. The problem was that the coaching staff made an obvious running situation even more obvious and easier to defend by putting heavy personnel on the field. The Panthers first 9 drives averaged 6.2 plays and used an average of 3 minutes and 12 seconds of game clock http://www.pantherscheapshop.com/cheap-authentic-dontari-poe-jersey , and only two of those drives were 3 and outs. Had the Panthers continued to run their normal offense, it’s likely they would have picked up at least 1 first down and never let the Dallas offense back onto the field.Instead, they went jumbo. They put 2 backs and 2 tight ends on the field and split a single receiver out wide. With only 1 receiver on the field, the Cowboys were able to deploy their base 4-3 defense and had 9 defenders in the box at the time of the snap.Some math for you: the Panthers had 10 players “in the box” and 1 split out wide. One of the players in the box was quarterback Cam Newton, who would eventually hand the ball to CJ Anderson, another player in the box. That left 8 Panthers to block 9 Cowboys at the line of scrimmage. You won’t win many plays like that. The Cowboys unsurprisingly blew up the play in the backfield.One play. Negative 1 yard. Three seconds off the clock. Timeout.Second down was more of the same. One Panthers receiver out wide and nine Cowboys within 5 yards of the ball at the snap. No gain. Three more seconds off the clock. Timeout.The Panthers tried to pass on third down out of desperation Cheap Ryan Kalil Jersey , and the Cowboys were able to force Newton to scramble for a single yard, bringing up 4th down and forcing the Panthers to punt just 13 seconds after they took possession of the ball. By trying to play it safe and milk clock, the Panthers gave the ball back to the Cowboys with a timeout and nearly two minutes to mount a comeback.It shouldn’t have to be said, but here we are: Putting your money on Mario Addison getting a strip-sack over Cam Newton throwing for a first down is a bad bet.