The Ravens entered Sunday’s matchup with Carolina as the #1 overall defense, allowing only 14.4 points per game and 280 total yards per game thus far in 2018 – but after the 36-21 win in which the Panthers offense piled on their highest point total of the season in addition to 386 total yards while the Panthers defense turned the Ravens over three times and sacked Joe Flacco twice, it actually looked like the boys in blue owned the #1 defense – and that was exactly what they wanted you to think.
“It fueled us a little bit,” said safety Mike Adams, who had the 30th interception of his career in the second quarter – Adams leads all active players in takeaways with 46 overall. “I’m not going to lie, the fact that they’re No. 1 coming into our house, no disrespect to them because they’re playing good football – 27 sacks, 11 sacks in one game against the Tennessee Titans – we do a little research too. But it kind of fueled us because we wanted to go out here and play well.”
“We wanted to be the No. 1 defense today.”
After all the talk of starting fast this week, when the Panthers allowed an opening 80-yard drive to put the Ravens up seven early, the defense could have hung their heads, but instead chose to buckle down – the Panthers only allowed 112 yards on the following six drives and picked off Joe Flacco twice as the Panthers built a 27-7 lead. The defense that had allowed 355 yards per game thus far this season allowed 325 today, but when the Panthers were up 20 in the third quarter, the Ravens had only gained 192 yards through 42 minutes of game action.
“The goal every week should be to play the way we played today,” said Eric Reid, who had seven tackles, second-most on the team, in addition to a sack. “How much of the buildup to the game played into that, I’m not sure – but if we showed anything, we showed ourselves what we’re capable of, so we need to keep that mentality moving forward.”
The Panthers knew coming in that one of the keys to the game would be containing wide receiver John Brown, whose 18.9 yards per catch average coming into Sunday was the fourth-best in the league; Brown was coming off a seven-catch, 134-yard performance against New Orleans last week.
And when Donte Jackson lined up from him, it’s exactly what Brown thought was going to happen – he just wasn’t happy with the results.
“Oh yeah, that’s what I expected,” Brown, who had his lowest output of the season in terms of yardage with 28, said after the game. “Just watching film, I see that he always match up with the speed guy and he do a great job with it so I knew it was going to be a challenge and that dude, he’s not going to lay down and I wasn’t going to lay down and we just out there competing.”
“I tip my hat off to him and I give credit when credit due. He’s a good dude and will be great in the future.”
In addition to limiting Brown, Jackson also picked up the first sack of his career in the second quarter on a cornerback blitz that Jackson says shaped up just like it did in practice.
“I got a cut-split from [Brown] and I knew it was my number that was called and I was like ‘This is perfect’ He lined up in a perfect spot just how we practiced it – come off the edge and get to the quarterback. I do love sacks because little guys, they don’t expect us to go and get sacks,” said the 5-10 Jackson. “Any position can rush the passer, Coach [Washington] likes to say that a lot – now I’ve got something to talk about with the big boys.”
While Ron Rivera gave credit to Eric Washington for mixing up the coverages, it was a combination of pass rush and a nose for the ball that helped the Panthers win (or tie) the turnover battle for the sixth time in seven games – they’re 5-1 in those games as they have the fifth-best turnover differential in the NFL.
Captain Munnerlyn, who battled with wideout Willie Snead IV all game before leaving with a strained hamstring in the second half, added an interception of his own – his first since December of 2015. A little bit of extra motivation is always important, and sometimes hearing all week about how great the defense on the other sideline is can spark you to play at your best.
“We’re not really worried about what people say about us or anything about hype or whatever, we’re just trying to do our job, be the best Carolina defense that we can be,” defensive tackle Kyle Love said. Love followed his game-ending fumble recovery last week in Philadelphia with a forced fumble this week in which he knifed into the backfield and jarred the ball loose from running back Alex Collins – the Panthers would score a touchdown three plays later. “We’ve got a lot to work on still and we’ve got to come back better every week so that’s what we’ll continue to work.”
Continuing to work and hone their defense as the season progresses was a consistent refrain in the locker room after the game; the team has always said they want to be playing their best football in November and December – although some players have trouble finding exactly the words.
“Definitely the best is yet to come, but we’re setting that bar high – the bar is already set,” said Mike Adams. “We’ve got a lot of football left, I don’t want to put the cart before the horse or the horse before the cart – however, y’all want to say it, I don’t want to do that.”
Adams laughed. You actually want the horse before the cart.
“I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, that’s what I don’t want to do – we’re playing good football and I know we’re going to stay that way, because we’re disciplined.”
“We’re ready for that.”
