were already talking about running back Christian McCaffrey chances of breaking some kind of receptions record in 2018. The Bengals defensive coordinator certainly had to make it a focus of the defensive game plan; protect the edges and the flat in response to the Panthers’ propensity to run or pass to McCaffrey in those directions.New Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner made all that planning for naught. Instead Turner ran McCaffrey between the tackles to the tune of 184 yards on 28 carries Stitched David Mayo Jersey , a whopping 6.6 yards per carry. If you were like me, as the game wore on in the second half you probably thought “well now Newton will start to throw to McCaffrey in the flat”. Nope, it never happened. McCaffrey only caught two passes for 10 yards on the day Youth Greg Van Roten Jersey , a huge departure from what the Panthers offense did in Weeks 1 and 2. The result of this effort is the Panthers lead the NFL in averaging 166 yards per game. That is Ron Rivera football right there.Let me throw some additional credit where it’s due. The patchwork offensive line did a great job of run blocking in this game. Also huge props to McCaffrey for his tough, tackle-breaking running. I read somewhere he averaged almost three additional yards after contact and had eight or 10 broken tackles. Can we please now stop with the ‘McCaffrey can’t run between the tackles’ narrative? He blew that up this past Sunday.On a related note here’s a graphic on McCaffrey’s directional success:Another reason I find the game plan genius is it took the pressure off the aforementioned patchwork line. With three starters out of the game the Panthers needed to avoid forcing Newton to stand in the pocket and win the game with his arm. Running the ball between the tackles did just that. The fact Newton was under a lot of pressure when he dropped back to pass supports this notion. Here are the PFF grades for the Panthers’ three fill-in starters on the offensive line:I should add that right tackle Taylor Moton was the Panthers’ top graded player on offense and even made the All Offense Team for PFF this week. I imagine Turner looked at this group of fill-ins and realized we had to run the ball in order to win this game. That turned out to be an advantage since it was the opposite of the Panthers’ film from the first two games. Advantage Panthers.I could get used to this whole ‘out game planning the competition’ stuff.CSR 2018 fantasy football season kickoff First though we must congratulate last year’s winners... including me!Thank you for the accolades and all that...it was a fine win but its a new season and I’m ready to defend my CSR 1 title. So to my other League Managers check your transaction counter from last year and those owners that made zero or maybe just a couple transactions, boot them Stitched Greg Van Roten Jersey , and request new players via this comment thread. League Managers please give me a holler in the comment thread if your league is renewed or is folded. If your previous CSR league folded (like CSR 2 just did apparently) then feel free to jump in this new league:Join CSR No. 59 by clicking here.I just set this league up and have not modified the settings yet so please be patient with that. Scoring settings will be a separate post in a few days. I’m still considering some changes to the scoring as well. If we need more leagues then well free to set one up yourself. CSR 1-14 have been used and now No. 59. Feel free to pick a random number or name. We typically draft no sooner than after the 3rd preseason games but its up to the league after that. Stay tuned, more details to come...