CHARLOTTE — Derrick Brown stood next to his locker as he's done every week this year, looking out on a sea of cameras and lights, a crowd that grown with each game the Carolina Panthers played throughout the 2025 season, trying to put into words the dueling thoughts, complex emotions, and pride that still existed after the Panthers 34-31 loss to the Rams in the wild card round of the playoffs.

"It's tough," he says with a pause. "It's tough to fall like that.

"Man, so proud of this time and the way guys fought. Sitting here, coming off of New England week (Week 4), many weeks ago, we were sitting at 1-and-3…that was where the team kind of found itself. I feel like this is a tough, tough business, and you're going against the best every single week.

"So man, I'm just so proud of our team for just showing the will to fight."

Carolina had to fight back again on Saturday night, after the Rams took an early 14-0 lead, scoring in two of their first three drives. Both touchdowns came on short fields, one courtesy of a turnover on downs, and the other courtesy of an interception. After holding L.A. to a field goal on their fourth drive, the defense forced four straight drives that sent the Rams back to the sidelines (three punts and one turnover on downs).

"We just showed people that we ain't the old Panthers. A lot of people didn't give us a chance," noted cornerback Mike Jackson. "So we just showed people who we was, and we got a lot to build on."

The Rams added another field goal with just over three minutes remaining in the third quarter, then, with just over two minutes to go in the same quarter, Trevis Gipson sacked Stafford, and on third-and-long, Jackson jumped a Davante Adams route that he'd been waiting on all night. He even told Adams earlier in the game that he knew it was coming and was ready. He told the truth and timed it perfectly for the interception.

"I broke up a dig on him the first game, so third-and-13, he always runs digs, so it's like they're going to come back with the shake," Jackson explained. "In that situation, I knew it was going to be a dig or an out, a fake-dig and go out. So, I just played my technique.

"He ran that same route against Detroit, so third-and-long, I'm in the boundary."

Jackson, who ended the regular season tied for the most passes defensed in the league (19), added four against the Rams on Saturday night, as well as three tackles and the turnover.

"I don't really listen to nobody. The critics are overrated, all that," Jackson preached. "Everybody was like, 'They want to throw away from Jaycee.' That's perfectly fine with me. I take pride in that."

Teams have avoided the Pro Bowler, Jaycee Horn, a lot this season, and Jackson has answered the bell time and again.

"Unbelievable. It's just Mr. Consistency," coach Dave Canales bragged of his corner after the game. "He just steps up and makes his plays when they're there, knocked the ball down, over and over, then coming up with a huge interception for us there at the end was amazing after a failed 4th down to give us another chance."

Horn added four tackles and a pass defenses for his part as well, but was helped off the field on the second-to-last Rams drive, before eventually being ruled out with a concussion. On the last drive, though, Stafford didn't need to test the boundary.

"I thought they took a lot of opportunities in the middle of the field just kind of with some high-low concepts and made the completions to get those drives going," Canales explained. "And they didn't really attack us outside where Jaycee wasn't, but at the same time, having Jaycee out there is always a great thing."

When the Panthers gave Los Angeles the ball back for the final time Saturday night, there was 2:34 to play, Carolina was up 31-27, and the Rams had to go 71 yards to score. The defense had gone toe-to-toe with the MVP candidate Matthew Stafford all night, giving up a touchdown, then often following that up with a stop, either through a punt, one blocked punt, and a turnover.

It also felt eerily similar to Week 13, when the Panthers took a late lead over L.A. and had to make a stop on defense to win the game. But this time, the Super Bowl favorites were ready. Stafford and Sean McVay attacked the middle of the field, working in their tight ends and big-bodied receivers, catching the Panthers in a zone that protected the end zone but still allowed for a lot of pitch-and-catch.

"We were just expecting the ball to go to guys like 12 (Nacua) and 17 (Adams)," explained safety Nick Scott. "So they were attacking the middle, which I think they did a good job switching it up. But you can attack the middle when you have that many timeouts and a two-minute and all that stuff.

"They weren't pressed for time, even though there wasn't a lot of time on the clock. So you can expect more runs, and balls in the middle, and stuff like that. But well-executed drive; guys were playing their assignments and getting guys down on the ground. One thing we didn't want to do was just be overly aggressive, and the ball starts flying too far down the field."

Attacking the middle worked all night for the Rams, and they utilized it to perfection when they needed it most. According to Next Gen Stats, overall, Stafford finished between the numbers with 22-for-30 for 275 yards and two touchdowns.

"(Defensive coordinator) Ejiro (Evero) had a really good plan for trying to get pressure on (Stafford) early on," Canales said, "and then they picked up the blitzes, and he hurt us a couple of times over the middle on some third downs, and so we had to play a little bit more coverage right there."

For Jackson, there was one play in particular over the middle that will haunt him into the offseason.

"I ain't have to let 12 catch the ball," Jackson admitted, referring to an 18-yard catch by Puka Nacua that moved the Rams to the 30-yard line. It was the only catch Jackson allowed all night, but the corner knows it was a costly one.

"I was lined up too deep. I couldn't get my feet set, so it was just like, I feel like that's on me. That's something I got to work out, work on in the offseason, being able to get your feet set as quick as possible in two minutes when everything's going fast.

"It was going fast. I was already lined up deep, so I should have just slowed down my feet."

Outside the numbers, Stafford started 1-of-11 for 10 yards and the interception, before hitting only his second of the night, again, when it mattered most, hitting tight end Colby Parkinson with the game-winning touchdown at the pylon.

Young and the offense were unable to connect on any of their four plays with 0:32 seconds remaining, ending their season on Saturday night.

"I don't think any guy in this room has anything to hang their head for," offered Scott. "I think guys fought extremely hard, really proud of us, how we came out as a defense, offense, and special teams. Everybody, in every phase, stepped up at some point in this game and gave us the best chance to win.

"So it is what it is. Shout out to those guys. They played extremely hard just like we did, and we were on the wrong side of a classic."

In a way, Saturday was a microcosm of the Panthers' 2025 season; counted out early on, fighting back with a grit that wouldn't quit. Going punch for punch with every opponent, and in the end, coming up just short of what would have been an amazing run.

"That's football," said Jackson. "It's going to itch at you a little bit. But understand the good we did, the bad, you know, just move on from it."