For the second consecutive week Cheap Trai Turner Jersey , the Panthers offense stole the headlines. assault led a valiant comeback attempt, this week saw a more traditional ground attack take center stage. Christian McCaffrey racked up 184 rushing yards on a bell-cow worthy 28 touches, something I was told his delicate frame could not handle. Now with 271 rushing yards on the season, the sophomore running back sits just 3 yards behind league leaders Ezekiel Elliot and Matt Breida. To top it all off, McCaffrey is also 8th in the league in receptions with 22 through three games. Since extrapolating three games worth of data is fun, McCaffrey is on pace for 1,445 rushing yards and 667 receiving yards on 117 catches, though he’s yet to hit pay dirt. While McCaffrey picked up chunks of yardage on the ground, it was ultimately Cam Newton that accounted for all four of the team’s touchdowns. Newton’s two rushing touchdowns give him 57 for his career, 12 more than any NFL quarterback ever. He’s now accounted for 8 touchdowns on the season and sports a 99.7 passer rating, the highest of his career. Newton and McCaffrey unsurprisingly find themselves on Pro Football Focus’s top 5 Panthers offensive players of the week for the second consecutive week. Joining the duo on the repeat honoree list is right tackle Taylor Moton, who received the team’s second highest grade last week. He’s been an anchor on a surprisingly capable offensive line and looks the part of a long term solution at the tackle position for the Panthers. The defensive side of the ball was more of a mixed bag. While the turnovers are nice and limited the Bengals offense, the Panthers defense still ceded 6.5 yards per play on the day. They now allow 6.01 yards per play on the season Cheap Donte Jackson Jersey , the 7th worst mark in the league. The saving grace for this defense has been the 6 takeaways and the respectable third down defense. The defensive superstar of the day was first year player Efe Obada who recorded a sack, an interception, and a near forced fumble on just 19 defensive snaps. That snap count is probably on the rise. In other snap count news, Julius Peppers played 45% of the defense’s snaps, by far his highest count this year. That didn’t translate to the box score, as the 17 year vet only registered a single quarterback hit on the day. While Obada was making waves in the trenches, rookie Donte Jackson stole the show on the back end. The rookie hauled in two interceptions on the day, which gives him a league best three (along with two others) through the season’s first three weeks. His strong performance landed him on PFF’s list of the Panthers top five performers on the defensive side of the ball. Kawann Short makes the list for the third time in as many weeks while adding another tackle for loss to his season total. Kyle Love probably made the list solely thanks to the near butt fumble he caused on Giovani Bernard off tackle run. Linebacker Luke Kuechly returns to the top 5 list after a shaky performance in Atlanta.Shaq Thompson and Colin Jones paced the team in tackles with 8 apiece while Jones also led the team in times seen chasing wide receivers after allowing a deep completion (I may have made that stat up). Mario Addison notched another sack, giving him a team 2.5 on the season and putting him on pace for his second straight double digit sack season. Through three games the Panthers offense ranks 15th and 13th in yards and points respectively while the defense ranks 19th and 12th in those same categories.Ace’s Boogie: How Panthers QB Cam Newton has ignited a culture change in Carolina Editor’s note: Please welcome our newest contributor to the CSR family, Janelle Moore. -BSCarollina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is sick, and he wants to infect the entire locker room. No, he doesn't want to spread his germs and engage in some kind of twisted game of “Call Of Duty” with viruses. Instead, what Newton wants to spread is something that’s potent and vital to the health of the team: a probiotic of joy Da'Norris Searcy Jersey , passion, and a hunger for winning. “When people see me play or (do) anything, it’s being positively contagious when being around certain people,”Newton shared in his presser recently. “I hope I’m that for a person”The main symptom ofthis infection is motivation. Newton lifted his social media exile, and took to Instagram to post his workouts and drop some words of wisdom peppered with some colorful language geared towards keeping the team inspired and hyped for the season to start. Newton insists that the only thing that’s changed about him during the offseason and leading into the new season is that this “positively contagious” mindset is being seen. “Nothing about me has changed,” Newton said. “The only thing different is I’m documenting it.”So why does Newton feel the need to document how he prepares and his mentality now? Is it purely about motivating the team and himself or does he have another motive based on silencing critics?Judging from his Instagram workouts, its plausible that Newton wants to show his critics that beneath the veneer of his easy going and carefree attitude that he is driven to lead this team back to the top of the NFC South and ultimately to the Super Bowl. Strength in bondingThe Panthers’ receivers finished No. 28 in the league in passing yards (192) per game in the 2017 season. General manager Marty Hurney revamped the corps, while Newton revamped a pre training camp tradition. Every year, Newton takes his receivers, tight ends, running backs, and backup quarterbacks to the Under Armour training facilities in Baltimore. There, the unit would workout together Michael Palardy Jersey , work through the playbook and develop on field chemistry. This year, off field chemistry became more of a focus. “We learned more about each other’s families,” said wide receiver Torrey Smith to the Charlotte Observer’s Jourdan Rodrigue, “ We laughed. Joked. It pays dividends in a lot of ways. It wasn’t even about working out together and catching passes. It was about being together and having a good time.”Newton organized activities that pushed mental and physical limits. One of those activities was that the players had to run an long and steep hill that features swatches of untouched green grass that presents the illusion of the hill being endless. The players ran this hill five times while they all bonded under labored breath, expletives, and the satisfaction of overcoming adversity as a group. DJ CamThe Panthers are known to play music during stretching. However Newton convinced coach Ron Rivera and offensive coordinator Norv Turner to play music for most of the practice. Now the sounds of hip-hop and dance aggressively and loudly pipe through the speakers. While the change seems to be rooted in loosening the vibe of the team, there’s more reason than that behind playing the music. According to Newton, the practice music serves two purposes: One, It simulates the noise from stadiums and exposure will get the rookies accustomed to playing in and through the noise. Two, it helps break the monotony. “There’s never a time in the game where it’s extremely quiet,” Newton explained “Listen to the music, let the time go by a little bit faster, making sure you can focus not only dancing or finessing through your favorite beats Cheap Shaq Thompson Jersey , or whatever and still can get the job done.With a new owner, a new offensive coordinator, and new weapons the cultural change is on in Charlotte. However, Newton is the catalyst of this shift. From sharing his workouts and at times, unorthodox methods of motivation,Newton is injecting a new strain that’s based on playing with a combination of freedom, focus, and flair.Get well soon if you can, NFC South.