Baltimore Beatdown
After a horrendously inconsistent start to the season, Kyle Hamilton was pinpointed as the main catalyst for the recent turnaround.
After finishing with the NFL’s top defense last season, the Baltimore Ravens were still expected to field one of the league’s best defenses in 2024 despite a massive brain drain from the coaching staff and the loss of some key starters in free agency during the offseason.
Heading into the regular season, the secondary was being billed as the deepest and most talented in the league with the potential to be elite but they were anything but through the first 10 games of the season. Due to a litany of blown coverages, missed assignments and miscommunications, they ranked dead-last in pass defense, allowing an average of nearly 300 yards per game and gave up the most plays of 20-plus yards over that span.
Over the past four games, they’ve done a complete 180-degree turnaround when it comes to defending the pass and has been one of the stoutest and most structurally sound overall units in the league as their run defense has been elite all season. After getting lit up by Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase for the second time in a dramatic win that went down to the wire in Week 10, the Ravens and first-year defense coordinator Zach Orr made some changes to both the starting lineup and roles to established starters.
First Team All Pro safety Kyle Hamilton transitioned from the hybrid slot defender role that made him a star to a more traditional safety role in which he spends most of his time roaming the backend and not as much in the box or at the line of scrimmage. When asked what has led the pass defense’s ability to click so much better over the past month, three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey pointed to Hamilton and all he has done to stabilize the secondary in his new role.
“Honestly, if I had to just pinpoint one thing, I would say it’s putting Kyle back there at safety,” Humphrey said. “That guy is just different. His play, obviously, you guys see the play, but the communication getting guys right. There are plays that I’m on the field ... I get the call, I ask Kyle ‘What do I do in this call?’ I hear Kyle give somebody else what they need to do in this call. His smarts, how he keeps the guys calm – he’s just a piece you can put at any position. But, him going back to safety has seemed to really stabilize everybody else in all of their spots, whether it’s corners, communicating to the nickel, communicating to the ‘backers. ‘Ro’ [Roquan Smith] is doing so much giving the front and everything, but I think Kyle has been able to help us stabilize in the secondary, and to me, that’s kind of been the big thing.”
In addition to Hamilton, he also believes they’ve “really tried to play more together” at all...
