Kyle Hamilton Is Hopeful This Ravens Defense Creates More Turnovers But Is Taking Nothing For Granted

The Baltimore Ravens, during a two-year collapse of their defense, have been unable to generate momentum-changing plays and turnovers.

New head coach Jesse Minter’s defenses with the Chargers were quite successful in that regard, particularly with generating interceptions. Given how similar what Minter is installing on defense is to what the Ravens ran for two years under former coordinator Mike Macdonald – when they set a record for leading the NFL in sacks, takeaways and points allowed – there is a natural tendency to assume that will be carrying over into 2026.

Ravens star safety Kyle Hamilton referred to the two defenses as “like cousins of sorts” speaking to the media Tuesday. I’d suggest they are first cousins (and there is probably another cousin joke in there as well given the shared beliefs of these two coaches, but we’ll refrain). Macdonald’s version just helped the Seahawks win a Super Bowl in his second year in charge.

It’s certainly fair to expect an uptick in turnovers given all the resources invested in this Ravens defense and rebuilt pass rush, but these players can take nothing for granted. The Ravens have blown more four-quarter leads than any team since Lamar Jackson became a full-season starter and a ridiculous number of double-digit leads at that, unable to get that pivotal turnover or sack when they need it to close out a game. It must change this season, players are certainly hopeful of that happening but given how poorly things went under former coordinator Zach Orr, everyone is striking a muted tone.

“Takeaways are very flow of the game,” Hamilton explained. “You can’t really manufacture takeaways. I think it’s got to be a mindset, and we’ve been emphasizing that a lot. I think in the past we played a lot of man (coverage) – not that it’s hard to get takeaways in man – but you don’t really have your eyes on the QB as much, if that makes sense.

“Mixing in some man with some zone and just allowing the DBs and LBs and everybody to be more aggressive to that sense and getting your hands on the ball … It’s something we’ve talked about a lot.”

Time For Change

Minter’s defenses with the Chargers weren’t particularly special at forcing fumbles, though Hamilton pointed out the staff continues to emphasize punching the ball out whenever possible (and it certainly helped undrafted linebacker Ethan Burke make the team). Minter’s D was in the top three in interceptions per passing attempt however, and lot of that credit has to go to how he calls a game and make adjustments.

He’s considered one of the best on the planet at confusing quarterbacks and mixing zone coverages and creating looks that allow defensive backs – largely without the pedigree of the individuals he has in Baltimore – to have clean breaks on the ball and be able to see things develop in front of them. Not having to run as much downfield - and for as long with their backs to the play as occurs in man coverage - is a big deal.

Largely because of a lack of pass rush, Orr had to blitz more than he would like and leave defensive backs on an island, and he felt like he had to try to survive on little safety help deep, while Mintner makes that a priority.

Use Of Man Coverage (24-25 Seasons)

Ravens Chargers

Cover-0 6.8% (4th) 4.7% (13th)

Cover-1 23.8% (8th) 8.2% (31st)

Man Coverage 30.3% (7th) 14.4% (32nd)

Minter was able to generate significant pressure with the Chargers without having to dedicate significant manpower to the rush, and having a healthy Nnamdi Madubuike at defensive tackle, would be critical to that remaining the case in Baltimore. Few teams took apart Minter’s base defense more than the Colts in a meeting last year, which offers some questions about leaning more into man coverage more Sunday, and also perhaps using Hamilton as more of a weapon than has been the norm on the blitz at Indianapolis.

Weight Of Expectations

Minter’s presence alone will change things for the better. And he has a vastly superior roster to Orr as well (health willing). But Hamilton, very much becoming the voice of this defense and someone with a perspective beyond his years, has heard the hype in the past and knows that talk is cheap. The Ravens were heavy Super Bowl favorites the prior two years and a faltering defense had much to do with them losing games they should win and falling well short of expectations.

“It goes to show how much that stuff really doesn’t matter,” Hamilton said. “At the end of the day we can have everybody picking us to win it all, and then not do it … Multiple times in multiple years, we heard all the talk about ‘the Ravens are this,’ and ‘the Ravens are that,’ and it doesn’t really matter.”

What can’t happen is the Ravens losing a bunch of games early in the season they are favored to win – starting Sunday – needing to avoid their slow starts under John Harbaugh. “I think the focus is to come out of the gates hot, and stay hot,” Hamilton said. The offense has far more change than the defense, so turning teams over and putting the offense in quality field position would be big.

We’re about to find out how quickly these Ravens can distance themselves from the mistakes of the recent past. But that can only come with time and stringing together dominant performances.

“There’s a balance of righting our wrongs,” Hamilton said, “and kind of just flushing it and it’s a whole new start … There’s a standard to be upheld, and we haven’t done a great job of holding the standard for whatever reasons … But now we really don’t have an excuse to go out there and put that stuff on tape. It’s a process and something I think we’ll get better at through the year.”

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