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Early in the third quarter Sunday, Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey lined up across from Justin Jefferson and prepared for island life. Minnesota had a third-and-1 at midfield, and the Ravens seemed to be expecting a run. Every defender but Humphrey was inside the box.

Then again, the Vikings had been reluctant to run the ball all game. Humphrey figured quarterback J.J. McCarthy might take his chances throwing downfield to one of the NFL’s most dangerous wide receivers. There would be no safety help over the top.

“It was one-on-one,” Humphrey said, “and I kind of thought they might take a shot.”

McCarthy took the under-center snap, faked a handoff and bombed a pass to Jefferson, who was running a post route. Humphrey, playing off the line of scrimmage, beat him to the spot, forcing Jefferson to trip and fall, and calmly collected his first interception of the season.

The Ravens knew how easily Jefferson could bend a game to his will. Defensive coordinator Zach Orr on Thursday called the four-time Pro Bowl pick “arguably the best receiver in the league.” He expected the Vikings to pepper him with targets.

McCarthy tried. But little worked. In a 27-19 win at U.S. Bank Stadium, the Ravens held Jefferson to a season-low 37 yards on four catches despite a season-high 12 targets. According to Pro Football Focus, Jefferson finished with just 0.79 yards per route run, his first game under 1 yard per route run this season and the sixth-lowest of his brilliant career.

“He is, obviously, one of the best in the league and has a bunch of records and deservedly so,” safety Kyle Hamilton said. “He gets all the recognition. He’s a great receiver. … But when you line up across from whoever it may be, you have to think you’re going to win your one-on-one. I think that’s what everybody on that field, whether you’re a corner, a safety, a defensive tackle or a linebacker — and I’m sure the offense feels the same way — but this game comes down to winning your one-on-ones. So I think we won more one-on-ones than they did today, and that’s why we won.”

Here’s how the Ravens contained Jefferson — and what their secondary’s performance could signal for a dramatically improved defense.

Man coverage

McCarthy had an early answer for the Ravens’ occasional man coverage looks. He hit wide receiver Jalen Nailor on third-and-4 for a 62-yard catch-and-run on the Vikings’ first drive, with a “pick” route from another receiver giving Nailor just enough separation on a vertical route against Humphrey. McCarthy completed his next two passes against man-to-man, too.

Then he went cold. According to a review of Sunday’s game, McCarthy missed his final eight throws against man coverage and finished 3-for-11 for 77 yards, including the third-quarter interception.

Jefferson, long a safety blanket for Minnesota quarterbacks, was blanketed instead. On a fourth-and-2 drop-back in the third quarter, Humphrey deterred a throw over the middle with a physical rep. On a third-and-15 play a few minutes later, cornerback Chidobe Awuzie, playing with outside leverage, didn’t bite on Jefferson’s post route fake, trusting safety Alohi Gilman to cover his weak spot inside. Awuzie stayed attached to Jefferson as he pivoted to a corner route and headed for the end zone. Both plays ended with incomplete passes.

“It’s tough against those guys,” coach John Harbaugh said of Jefferson and wide receiver Jordan Addison, who was limited to three catches on 11 targets for 35 yards. “And we were in single-high [coverage], playing a lot of man-type coverages. So they did a great job. All the corners did a great job, and the safeties showed up a couple times, too.”

Pass rush

Over the Ravens’ first nine weeks, according to Sports Info Solutions, they had just two games with a pressure rate over 30%: a Week 2 win over the Cleveland Browns (35.4%), their last game with now-injured defensive lineman Nnamdi Madubuike, and a Week 3 loss to the Detroit Lions (31.0%).

On Sunday, the Ravens got to McCarthy on 21 of his 47 drop-backs (44.7%). McCarthy was sacked just once, a 3-yard loss by defensive lineman Travis Jones, but he was hit 12 times and had a handful of other plays ruined by the Ravens’ defensive front. Overall, McCarthy finished 7-for-19 for 86 yards and an interception when pressured, according to SIS.

“A lot of talk about the lack of pressure [this season], but we had [12] quarterback hits and four batted balls,” Harbaugh said. “Those were passes defended by the D-line and the pass rushers. That’s pretty darn great.”

Jones led the Ravens with a career-high six pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, followed by rookie outside linebacker Mike Green (four) and new outside linebacker Dre’Mont Jones (four), who flashed his versatility as an interior rusher. Outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy, inside linebacker Roquan Smith, defensive lineman Taven Bryan and Hamilton also had multiple pressures.

Jefferson was targeted four times on pressured drop-backs, catching two for 21 yards. Ravens defenders were on high alert wherever he lined up, from out wide to the slot to the backfield. After seeing Jefferson line up next to McCarthy in a shotgun formation early in the second quarter, Green altered his pass rush path to collide with Jefferson as he started his route and approached the line of scrimmage. McCarthy had to settle for a 3-yard scramble.

“I think that’s probably the best wide receiver group in the league,” said safety Malaki Starks, who had an interception on another deep throw to Jefferson. “We’re all on the same page. When you’re playing defense, you’re all on one page. You’re doing your job, and that’s all that matters.”

Good fortune

The best way to limit a receiver like Jefferson, of course, is to have a quarterback miss him. And McCarthy missed him a lot.

The 2024 first-round pick finished Sunday with a season-low 47.6% completion rate overall and an on-target rate of just 50%, by far the worst mark of any starting quarterback the Ravens have faced this season.

McCarthy was especially shaky in the fourth quarter. He missed Jefferson three times in just over a three-minute span late in the game, all in high-value spots: a third-down sideline shot that would’ve moved the chains, a too-low attempt near the goal line, and a 20-yard out-breaker on the Vikings’ final drive that, if not for a late readjustment from Jefferson, might’ve ended with another interception.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Jefferson told reporters after the game. The Ravens know that much to be true. Over the season’s first five weeks, their defense ranked 27th in opponent-adjusted efficiency, according to FTN. Since Week 6, their first game with Gilman on the field and Hamilton moved closer to the line of scrimmage, they’ve ranked eighth.

“I think we’re starting to hit our stride,” Hamilton said. “It’s not a surprise to us. I think we’re playing to our potential now, and that has to be sustained. We’re happy we got the win, but we’re not ecstatic about what our record still is. We still have stuff to do, and people to prove wrong, people to prove right, so this is a good building block going forward in the season.”