ExtremeRavens Posted Monday at 10:00 AM Posted Monday at 10:00 AM MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Derrek Hamilton was on his way to the airport Friday morning, the optimism in his voice radiating through the phone like the bright, warm Florida sunshine. His son, Kyle, had just put together another dynamic if not prolific performance for a Ravens defense that harassed Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa much of Thursday night and helped lead Baltimore to a much-needed 28-6 victory. The safety — if you could call him that — was, in his father’s words, “having fun playing football now.” A big part of the reason: His reunion with former Notre Dame teammate and fellow safety Alohi Gilman, whom Baltimore traded for last month to be able to deploy the three-safety looks its defense covets but has been missing this season to maximize Hamilton’s unicorn skills. “I think Kyle was about to jump off the edge,” Derrek said of his son’s 2019 freshman year at Notre Dame, where Gilman was a senior at the time. “They were pushing him, a lot of screaming at him and Alohi took the big brother role and it was ‘You’re gonna be fine, do this, eat here, stretch here, get your rest there, study film like this,’ and Kyle just bloomed.” He is blossoming again. With the addition of Gilman alongside rookie first-round safety Malaki Starks on the back end, the Ravens over the past three games have been able to confuse and terrorize offenses by moving the 6-foot-4, 218-pound Hamilton around with the flexibility of a queen on a chess board. Since Gilman’s arrival, Hamilton has logged 78 of his 179 defensive snaps at slot corner, compared with just 38 through the first four games, per Pro Football Focus. The rest of the time, he has lined up on the defensive line, in the box, at wide corner and at free safety. In that span, he has generated four pressures across three games compared to just two the first four. Unsurprisingly, he’s the highest-graded safety in the NFL with a mark of 81, which includes having the best cover grade (86.1), too. But there has perhaps been no better pièce de résistance to date this season than his play against the abysmal Dolphins. Per Next Gen Stats, through the first 15 snaps Hamilton did not line up at safety once and instead was at outside linebacker for seven snaps, in the slot for four, on the edge for two and at inside linebacker for two. The trend continued for much of the game and he finished with six tackles, including one for loss. The statistics also belied his impact as a Swiss Army knife defender that Miami struggled to handle. Among the myriad skills on display was a middle blitz in which he hit the guard, thus confusing speedy running back De’Von Achane in pass protection just long enough that he was able to race in on the quarterback. He did the same thing last week against the Chicago Bears and Caleb Williams, leading to an intentional grounding penalty that was effectively the same as a sack for a pass rush in desperate need of them, however they can get them. It means taking on more responsibility, something Hamilton says that he doesn’t look forward to but acknowledges is fun. “I feel like I’m able to do it, mentally and physically,” he said last week. “Thank God I have the ability to be able to do so, but I don’t necessarily relish in the fact that I have more responsibilities on my plate. At nickel, obviously, you’re [the one] talking, but the safety is also back there making the calls ultimately, so I’m listening to Malaki and ‘Lo’ back there. It’s just the same game from a different perspective.” Of course, the symbiotic relationship between the two doesn’t work without Gilman playing well. Thursday night, he had four tackles as well as a forced fumble and recovery deep in Miami’s end that helped sway the momentum in the opening quarter after the Dolphins had swiftly moved the ball and taken a 3-0 lead. A week earlier, in a convincing win over the Bears, he again had four tackles along with a pass breakup. “That play got them stopped,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said of Gilman’s strip on Thursday. “It didn’t feel like we were stopping them at that point. “You have to come up with some plays, and there he came up with a play. … He really is that kind of a player, but also, the fact that he’s so aware. He understands the defense so well. He’s so darn smart. He makes a lot of calls and adjustments. He kind of calms everything down out there and gets us in the right spot – especially with an offense like that with all those motions. You have to have guys [like] him and Kyle [Hamilton] and Marlon [Humphrey]; they do a great job in the back end.” Maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Gilman was Hamilton’s roommate during the latter’s freshman camp at Notre Dame. “Kyle was Lo’s guy,” Derrek said. “Lo made sure Kyle was always on point. He told me when Kyle was at Notre Dame, ‘Bro, he’s it.’” Alohi Gilman, left, was Kyle Hamilton’s roommate during the latter’s freshman camp at Notre Dame in 2019. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) So, apparently, is the connection between the two, even all these years later. “It’s like riding a bike,” Gilman said of their symbiotic relationship. “It’s like two homeboys playing pickup at the YMCA, so me and ‘K-Ham’ just picked up where we left off. We obviously connect on a different level because we have some experiences together. We have similar personalities. I don’t know if it’s the Notre Dame in us, but that connection is easy, and I’m just happy to be around him.” The feeling is mutual, for Hamilton and Gilman as well as the rest of the Ravens’ defense. Through the first five games of the season, Baltimore had allowed an NFL-worst 35.4 points per game. Since Gilman’s arrival, it has surrendered just 13 per game. It perhaps helps, too, that Gilman was not in Baltimore for the woebegone start to the season and had no such baggage to add to an already heavy load. “I came in at a weird time, and I wasn’t able to experience the first chapter, but it has been cool to be here and see everyone shift in their mindset to winning football, which is what is ingrained in this place,” he said. “I think it definitely gives me a different perspective. I’m coming in with a whole other perspective. I didn’t experience those same experiences they experienced earlier, so the way I’m approaching it is, ‘How can I make this team the best that I can be? What is my role, and how do I do it the best that I can to bring this whole thing to life?’ I think that’s where we’re at right now. We’re in a good trajectory, and we have a lot of ball left, but we’re going to celebrate this one and just keep rolling from here.” And for Hamilton and Gilman, rolling together again. “They verbally don’t have to talk,” Derrek Hamilton said. “I just see the interactions. I don’t talk to him about it, but I know what Alohi has done for my son, again. He’s unleashed him.” Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1. View the full article Quote
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