The Dallas Cowboys will be playing football on Sunday in

Cowboys vs. Panthers: Five things to watch in the game a real game that will count in the standings. Can you believe it? The time has finally arrived. The Cowboys will square off with their first NFC South team as they travel to Carolina to face the Panthers. The last time these teams met was in 2015 and the Panthers gave the Cowboys a 33-14 Thanksgiving beat-down. Carolina came into that game 10-0 and finished 15-1 en route to a Super Bowl appearance.The Cowboys are hoping for different results this time as they look to get off to a good start in 2018. It’s should be a great game as these teams are evenly matched http://www.authenticsdallascowboys.com/cheap-la_el-collins-jersey , but what are some things that could be the difference maker? Here are five things to watch when these two teams square off.Panthers DT’s vs. Cowboys interior OLThe Cowboys were going to have their hands full with the Panthers stud defensive tackles Dontari Poe and Kawaan Short no matter what, but the absence of All Pro center Travis Frederick is going to make it that much more challenging. Backup center Joe Looney has been solid in relief, but when you consider that he’ll have rookie Connor Williams on his left, that can create a cause for concern for Cowboys fans as they fend off two former Pro Bowlers.The offensive line is such an important part of the Cowboys success. They need it working to get Ezekiel Elliott going and they need it to keep Dak Prescott upright. Winning the battle in the trenches is going to be key for Dallas on Sunday.Which will effectively influence...Cowboys first-down efficiencyThere is no secret that the Cowboys are going to employ a heavy does of the running game. Keeping quarterback Dak Prescott in manageable down-and-distance situations is going to be imperative and the Cowboys offense will need to win on early downs to make that possible. With the tough defensive front of Carolina, it’s going to be difficult for the Cowboys to move the pile. Dallas will need to work in some bootleg tosses, play-action, and quick passes in order to keep the Panthers from overloading against the run.If the Cowboys get stuffed early or have some negative plays that put them behind the chains, then their offense could be forced to play uphill. It’s going to be important for the Cowboys to be efficient on first down.Randy Gregory vs. Taylor MotonThe Panthers offensive line is beat up as several key starters are battling injuries. One of those key starters is left tackle Matt Kalil who was selected fourth overall in the 2012 NFL Draft (by Minnesota). On Tuesday, the Panthers put Kalil on injured reserve, making him unavailable to them for the first half of the season.That leaves second-year tackle Taylor Moton to protect Cam Newton’s blindside. While Panthers fans are pleased with the progress of last year’s second-round pick, Moton is very inexperienced and only played five snaps last year.Opposing Moton will be another second-round pick who doesn’t have a whole lot of playing experience himself - Randy Gregory. However, the Cowboys young edge rusher has hit the ground running once he was reinstated by the league and he’s ready to show the world what he can do. This will be an interesting battle to keep an eye on as how well these players perform will have a huge affect on how successful these teams can be this season.Double-down on double-deuceChristian McCaffrey can be explosive when he gets in space and the Cowboys defense will need watch this guy carefully. McCaffrey can beat you as a running back, but he’s even more dangerous catching passes as the majority of his 1,000+ scrimmage yards last season came as a receiver. With Panthers coach Ron Rivera indicating that McCaffrey will get a heavy amount of touches, this could open things up for the second-year running back to have a big season.The Cowboys will counter that with the great explosiveness of All-Pro linebacker Sean Lee. And with the improved movement from Jaylon Smith, the defense has a good core group of players who can go after the ball carrier. When it comes to McCaffrey, the Cowboys better allocate an extra defender to track his whereabouts. He’s a slippery littler sucker and if they don’t have an insurance policy in place when one guy misses, it could turn into a big play for Carolina.The rookie receiversThe Cowboys didn’t select fan-favorite D.J. Moore in the first round, but the Panthers did. Dallas opted to wait until the third round to draft their new wide receiver when they selected Michael Gallup with the 81st overall pick. How well will these young receivers fan in their NFL debut?Devin Funchess is the Panthers top receiving threat at the moment, but with with the talent of Moore, it’s only a matter of time before he starts becoming more involved in the offense. Cam Newton has a big arm and if Moore gets loose deep down field, it could result in a big play for the Panthers offense.The Cowboys have an assortment of receivers and could end up dressing all six of them on the roster. It’s unclear what Gallup’s role will be, but he developed some nice chemistry with Prescott in training camp. Can the rookie makes a splash in his first NFL game?What will you be watching on Sunday?Crunching stats: Ten things that stood out in the Cowboys’ loss to the Panthers It could have been worse. But the Dallas Cowboys’ dismal performance against the Carolina Panthers was absolutely bad enough. The team had little offensive output, and the defense was unable to contain Cam Newton in the first half. It’s time to do a dive into the statistics of the game and try to learn a little bit about what went wrong - and if there are any signs of hope for the next game against the New York Giants and the rest of the season.The offensive game plan was once again too stubborn.This is not about creativity or adjustments. It is about a belief that this team can impose its will on opponents without having to adapt to what they are facing. If they had the offensive line of 2016, with Doug Free still manning right tackle while La’el Collins worked at left guard, then maybe that would still work. But with Travis Frederick out due to his illness, and a somewhat undersized rookie, Connor Williams Color Rush Jaylon Smith Jersey , at LG, expecting to go in and just ram it down the throats of the Panthers with their outstanding defensive tackles and linebackers was foolish - or worse. Yet the first play of the game was Ezekiel Elliott running at right guard. For a loss of a yard.It was one play in a game that saw a lot of problems for Dallas. But it was the one thing Scott Linehan has been so heavily criticized for: It was predictable, and the Panthers were ready for it. Actually, they were ready for it just by nature of their talent up the middle of their defense. Dallas tried to come out and show they could do what they wanted, and failed. That led to the next thing.Third downs were unmanageable.I didn’t have to do the work on this.Folks, you aren’t going to win many games like that. It is called “getting behind schedule”. If you aren’t seeing a lot of 3rd and 5 or less, you are in trouble. Obviously, Dallas was.That almost always tracks back to what happens on first down, and the Cowboys were boom or (mostly) bust there.It was a few good plays and a bunch of failed ones on first down, which set the tone for the entire game. For the game, the Cowboys were only 2 of 11 on third down conversions, which kind of sums up things right there.Some of the new tools were underutilized.Rico Gathers was inactive, of course, and while that may have been his punishment for his arrest the day of the cutdown, we still don’t know if he can be a red zone weapon. Tavon Austin only saw the field for 10 plays and had just two touches, one of which was called back on penalty. Jamize Olawale, who seems to be much more than just a conventional blocking fullback, only saw six snaps. He was not targeted in the passing game, where he could be very dangerous.They spread the ball around - but to poor effect.Dak Prescott was disappointing, being off on many throws and generally indecisive throughout. But he did try to get the ball to ten different receivers, counting the play to Austin that was called back. That just emphasizes his own failures, unfortunately.The offensive line was just as disappointing.Tyron Smith and La’el Collins both had two penalties. The middle of the line, with Williams and Looney, just weren’t up to the task against the superb DTs of Carolina, especially Kawann Short, who got through for two sacks, two TFLs, and four QB hits. This is still very much a work in progress http://www.authenticsdallascowboys.com/cheap-tyrone-crawford-jersey , but the returning starters should have been better, including Zack Martin. Six sacks, four TFLs, and 10 QB hits is far too much, and mostly falls on their shoulders.The offensive struggles wasted a pretty good defensive effort.The defense certainly wasn’t perfect. They failed to account for Cam Newton’s running ability too often in the first half, and he wound up the leading rusher for Carolina with 58 yards. They also had some really bad tackling, and there was a general sense of confusion at times.But overall, they held Newton’s passing to only 161 yards, a 65% completion rate, a long of only 19 yards, and no touchdowns. They also sacked him three times, which is a good showing against one of the hardest quarterbacks to bring down. In total, Carolina only had 293 yards of offense, and of course they only put up 16 points. You should be able to beat any team that your defense holds to that. Admittedly, the Panthers may have gone into a very conservative mode after half as it became apparent how impotent the Dallas offense was. But still, the defense played good enough to win, at least based on the stats.However, there was one odd stat line on D.Sean Lee was credited with only four tackles (and just one solo), with a QB hit and a pass defended. That may be the worst stat line for him in his career for any game, and certainly for one where he was apparently healthy the entire way. He was off the field more than normal, only playing 88% of the defensive downs. But Jaylon Smith had a somewhat better game statistically, with four tackles, three solo, and one sack on a scrambling Newton. But what really stood out (and might be one sign of hope going forward) is that Leighton Vander Esch was not that far off from Lee’s production, with three tackles (two solo) - and he only played 25% of the snaps. Meanwhile, Demarcus Lawrence was the star of the game, with some other good D line performancesYou don’t often see defensive ends being the leading tackler for their team, but Lawrence did just that http://www.authenticsdallascowboys.com/cheap-kavon-frazier-jersey , getting six solo stops plus one assist for seven total, a sack, and a fumble recovery. In order of production, Tyrone Crawford, Taco Charlton (yes, he was good in this game), Daniel Ross, Antwaun Woods, Dorance Armstrong, and Maliek Collins all had impacts on the game, including the sack from Collins. But Randy Gregory, who left the game early and was only on the field for 22% of the defensive downs, didn’t make the stats table, a very desultory result for his much-anticipated return to football, and one that now has both the mysterious “relapse” issue and his injury hanging over it.The defensive backs were probably the best unit on the field for the whole team.The passing numbers for Carolina bear this out, and they also represented four of the top eight tacklers (not always a good thing, since that means the front seven are not getting the job done). They may not have depth, but they seem very solid. Next week, however, they face a much more dangerous group of receivers on the New York Giants, so we will have to hold back a bit on just how good they are.Things finally picked up late - but how much of that was effectively “garbage time”?Particularly in the fourth quarter when they went no-huddle as they tried to get back into the game, the offense started to move the ball. Things loosened up for Zeke as they passed more, and he got two good runs plus the touchdown on the option play with Dak. And the defense, which could have been gassed, kept up things on their end, stopping the Panthers twice to give Dallas shots at tying the game. But had Carolina gone conservative in the faith that the Cowboys could not score? It is hard to say - but maybe the coaching staff can find something to use there.