Donte Jackson, Panthers defense ‘a thing of beauty’ in complete effort against Ravens

Baltimore Ravens wide receiver John Brown is fast fast. Like, speeding bullet fast.

He could run the 40-yard dash in less time (4.34 seconds) than it probably took you to read that first sentence, so it’s not surprising he’s the NFL’s third-leading receiver in terms of yards per catch, gaining nearly 20 yards every time he touches the ball.

But Carolina Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson held him to 28 yards on three catches during Sunday’s 36-21 Panthers victory. Turns out there is a way to stop a speeding bullet — Jackson told Mike Adams the secret before the game.

“The rookie’s so funny because he knows (Brown) is fast, so he said, ‘you know how you stop a bullet?’” Adams said. “I said, ‘how?’ (Jackson said), ‘you put a bullet on him.’

“That’s how you stop him, with another fast guy. He did a great job today. ... Twenty-eight yards, that’s huge, especially for a rookie. I’m commending his focus and his effort, he’s getting better and better.”

Brown caught a 9-yard pass on the Ravens’ first play of the game. He went for 5 yards on the first play of their next drive. And he doubled his total with a 14-yard reception in the second quarter.

After that, the matchup belonged to Jackson.

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco targeted Brown three more times after that 14-yard gain, but Jackson was attached to Brown’s hip for every one of them. When the rookie batted away Brown’s seventh target of the day in the third quarter, he might as well have stuck a “LANE CLOSED” sign on the football before it returned to Flacco.

That was Brown’s final look of the day.

“That’s what I came out here to do. These dudes who are in the secondary with me, they don’t expect nothing less,” Jackson said. “So I’ve got to go out there and perform, not matter who the matchup is. We knew that John Brown coming into the game is an explosive athlete, great vertical threat. So we’ll match speed with speed and go out there and just play ball.”

Regardless of the result, Brown knew what he was in for against Jackson and complimented the rookie, saying he’d be “great in the future.”

For now, he gave credit where credit was due.

“Oh yeah, that’s what I expected,” he said. “Just watching film, I’d seen he always matches up with the speed guy and he does a great job with it, so I knew it was going to be a challenge. That dude isn’t gonna lay down, I wasn’t gonna lay down, and we were just out there competing.”

The rookie’s success was a microcosm of the Carolina defense as a whole, Sunday. The Panthers harassed Flacco, forced three turnovers and got off the field when they needed to — something they struggled to do in each of their past two games. With Cam Newton and company clicking, the Panthers’ defense made it a priority to get them back on the field as much as possible.

The result? Six drives of fewer than 10 plays that didn’t result in points, three drives of three plays or fewer, and a 34:01-25:59 advantage in time of possession.

“Our offense played a hell of a game. Those guys kept us going and we fed off that a lot,” he said. “They were out there scoring points and we were just in a rush and urgency to get them on the field because we knew they were playing a good game and they were hot. We’ve got this thing cooking and it’s something really, really special right here.”

Baltimore finished with 325 total yards, but 136 of them came on two of the final three drives of the game, which was all but decided at that point.

Adams said the Panthers heard all the talk about their opponent’s top-ranked defense and decided to seize that title for themselves, suffocating Baltimore to the point of repeated desperation. A pair of gutsy fourth-down attempts made that clear.

The first, a fourth-and-1 from the Ravens’ 34 with 2:31 left in the first half, worked out for the Ravens despite the precarious field position. The second, a fourth-and-3 from the Panthers’ 46 early in the third quarter, did not.

Both of them energized an already-thriving defense. Defensive tackle Kyle Love likened it to a shark smelling blood in the water, which seemed to describe a front seven that pressured Flacco into a 56.8 quarterback rating against a secondary that recorded two sacks of its own.

Head coach Ron Rivera called it a statement win. Love said it sent a message to opposing offenses — beware.

“Whenever we come together — front seven, the back end — it’s a thing of beauty,” he said. “We’re all running on all cylinders. That’s a scary sight as an offense when you see that.”