ExtremeRavens Posted 12 hours ago Posted 12 hours ago When Kyle Hamilton was asked at his locker what position he would say that he plays, he sounded like a man trying to be persuasive if not convincing himself. “Safety,” he said. “I would say safety. I was drafted as a safety. It says safety on the roster, probably. Safety.” The Ravens’ defensive star is not really, even if the roster says so. Slot defender, enforcer in the box, pass rusher. All are applicable. “He’s probably the most position-less player in the NFL,” teammate and veteran outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. “If you lined him up at nose guard he would find ways to make plays. “He’s really amazing at playing football. As simple as that is, it’s a big thing — the way he moves, the way he understands blocks, the way he understands how teams attack our defense, understanding his assignment but being able to play freelance when he has to too. He’s one of one.” He’s not the only one, though, who has helped spark a turnaround for what over the first month of the season was the worst defense in the NFL. Over the past four games, the Ravens have allowed a scant 14.5 points per game and forced eight turnovers, both third-best in the league during that span. In Sunday’s win over the Vikings in Minnesota, they also racked up 12 quarterback hits and 13 pass breakups. Hamilton, who was moved from safety to primarily a box/slot role, has unquestionably been the biggest key and force multiplier, but defensive tackle Travis Jones, rookie outside linebacker Mike Green and turnovers have all played a significant part, too. Still, it starts with Hamilton and his constant creeping up to the line of scrimmage, which has unlocked a variety of options for the defense and coordinator Zach Orr. “It allows us to just play with some looks; we don’t have to worry about swapping personnels on and off the field,” Hamilton said of his move from the back end, where he played almost all of his snaps the first four weeks of the season. “I feel like that’s a big thing. With this league now, it’s a lot of different personnels. … I think we have the flexibility as a defense to line up and play ourselves and dictate the game.” Moving him around the field had a similar impact last year, too. After being one of the worst defenses in the league through the first half of the season, Baltimore shifted Hamilton to more of a deep safety role beginning in Week 11. The Ravens went from allowing 5.7 yards per play to 4.39 and shaved off nearly 2 yards per pass attempt as well. After ranking 13th in defensive defense-adjusted value over average the first half of the season, the Ravens were second over the second half. Moving him toward the line of scrimmage after trading for safety Alohi Gilman to pair with first-round rookie Malaki Starks has had a similar effect this season, but others have contributed as well. Jones, who was hampered by an ankle injury earlier in the season, has been healthy of late and wreaking havoc. His 21 pressures, including six this past Sunday, per Pro Football Focus, lead the team by a wide margin and his four quarterback hits and four tackles for loss are already as many as he had all of last season. He also has two pass breakups, which is just one shy of what he had for his career. Green and inside linebacker Teddye Buchanan, a fellow rookie, have started to find their footing as well. Ravens inside linebacker Teddye Buchanan pressures Bears quarterback Caleb Williams in October. Buchanan has steadily improved this season, according to Pro Football Focus grades. (Karl Merton Ferron/Staff) After Green, a second-round pick out of Marshall, went without a sack in his first six games, he has registered 1 1/2 over his past three. He has also caused problems in other ways, including against the Vikings when he tweaked his rush to collide with and alter the route of receiver Justin Jefferson, who was lined up in the backfield, resulting in just a 3-yard scramble from quarterback J.J. McCarthy. Green finished the game with four pressures, second-most on the team. Buchanan, meanwhile, has seen a steady improvement in his defensive PFF marks even while playing slightly fewer snaps after being forced into a bigger role when Roquan Smith suffered a hamstring injury in Week 4 and missed the next two games. “[The game] definitely has slowed down a lot,” Buchanan said. “It’s been a combination of me understanding our defense and then understanding an NFL blueprint and how teams try to attack you. “I’m feeling a lot more comfortable. Even as a team, we’re in a very different spot. We have our pieces together and we’re starting to get an identity as a defense and we’re really playing together. It’s night and day.” The same is true for Starks, who has had an interception in each of his past two games. “I’m just not out there thinking [as much],” he said. “The call comes in, I’m communicating, and I don’t have to think as much about where I’m supposed to be and how I’m supposed to be there. I can just be there and fly around and get to the ball.” Still, in the sanguine words of veteran cornerback Marlon Humphrey, the defense has turned a “page” but not a corner, a sentiment Van Noy agrees with. The Ravens’ 12 sacks are tied for last with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Sn Francisco 49ers. Their pass rush win rate of 34%, per ESPN analytics, ranks just 24th. And they’ve allowed a touchdown or field goal on an opponent’s opening drive in seven of nine games. But they have also made adjustments. Over the past two games, Baltimore has held opponents without a third-down conversion in the second half. Over its past three games, it allowed just two. Last week, the Vikings were held to just 3 of 14 on third down and 2 of 5 on fourth down for the game. Turnovers and batted balls have played no small part, too, as has “marrying up” the coverage and pass rush, Van Noy said. “What we’ve been able to build with our different looks since the bye week has helped us out,” Orr said of Sunday’s performance against the Vikings. “We’re able to present different challenges to the offense, and guys were just relentless with their rushes. We were able to throw a lot of different bodies at them, whether it was pressure with DBs or off-ball linebackers or the front four winning. It was good to see, and a lot of guys had really good games.” Perhaps no one more than Hamilton, as is often the case from whatever position he’s deployed to play. “He’s a really good player, one of the best in the game regardless of position and there are a lot of people who are talented who are the best at their position, but they only can play one position,” Orr said. “Kyle can play all across the defensive backfield for us, on the edge, at the second level at the linebacker position for us, and [it] allows us to do a lot of different things with him, because we know offenses have to know where No. 14 is at all times.” 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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