Ravens Coach Jesse Minter Might Blitz More Than Ever Before Sunday With Kyle Hamilton Leading The Way

Kyle Hamilton has played 69 games in the NFL, including the playoffs, and none like Week 3 of what would become an epic 2023 season for the Ravens.

Mike Macdonald, now Super Bowl winning head coach in Seattle, called 38 games as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator and never one as blitz happy as that afternoon and never one deploying Hamilton like that. Ravens rookie head coach Jesse Minter, Macdonald’s best bud and someone who runs a very similar defense, got shredded by the Colts last year as the Chargers coordinator by taking a very opposite approach.

We strongly suggest Minter take a bunch pages out of Macdonald’s playbook from that 2023 clash and apply it against a better version of the Colts offense but one that still has Shane Steichen at the helm and 40% of the starting offensive line. Macdonald did things that day we’d never see here again – things Minter didn’t really do with Derwin James, his version of Hamilton, last year – but we might see replicated Sunday.

Hamilton set career highs in that game with three sacks (he has eight in his career), three quarterback hits (he has one other game with two), two hurries and five pressures (he has one other game with three). Hamilton had 12 pass rush reps in that game – he’s never had more than seven in the other 68 games – and a ridiculous 42% pressure rate, although the Ravens would lose the game, 22-19, in overtime.

Hamilton referred to Minter’s defense as “cousins of sorts” to what they ran with Macdonald. Macdonald is a key sounding board for Minter – that’s no secret – and Minter knows that leaning on the zone looks and all the nickel and dime looks and not attacking Colts quarterback Daniel Jones last year backfired badly, gashed for 38 points in a loss that exposed Minter’s defense in LA probably more than any other.

“Everything that's happened in the past is an opportunity to grow and learn and to take things from,” Minter said of that Week 7 thrashing. “So, that's great tape, obviously, for myself to look at — I'm the one that was running the defense in that game.”

Colts analyst Rick Venturi, a former NFL head coach who watches film meticulously in preparation for games, reminded me of Hamilton’s dominance in 2023 on “The Daily Flock,” prompting this study, and he agreed Minter would be foolish to try the same things he did last year.

“I think we see a lot more eight-man fronts, you know, bringing loaded coverages up in there,” Venturi said. “And I would think a lot more pressure off the edge.”

Cousins Help Cousins

There is no way Minter didn’t watch Macdonald’s film versus the Colts as soon as the schedule came out. No way. And there is no way Hamilton hasn’t let him know just how dominant he was on all those blitzes. There is no way that Minter doesn’t know that Macdonald blitzed 51% of the time over 84 (!) snaps vs Steichen that day (Macdonald never blitzed more than 42% of the time in any other game in Baltimore and averaged 21% here).

Minshew isn’t Jones but the offense is the same with boots and quick passes where Jones killed Minter, and Jones isn’t taking deep shots, either. So Minter knows that Macdonald went with man defense 57% of the snaps – most during his time with the Ravens (averaged 28%) – while Minter stuck to his tendencies and played 73% zone.

“If you're gonna play a lot of zone against the Colts, Danny's going to eat you alive,” Venturi observed of Jones.

And Minter knows that the Colts had more YAC against him than any team he faced running the Chargers defense and averaged a robust 6.5 YAC/reception, while Macdonald held them to 3.5 YAC/rec. And he knows that James had three pressures and some other instances where he gave Jones something to think about, but he only blitzed him six times, and didn’t dial it up enough.

Like me, he rewatched all 12 of Hamilton’s pass rush reps and saw him crushing everything blitzing off left end and repeatedly from the left slot and wreaking havoc. He saw Macdonald blitz him on four straight plays at one point (Hamilton averages 2.7/game in his career) and saw him bring Hamilton as part of three late, rare big blitzes for Macdonald (six or more pass rushers).

Charting Greatness

He might have even drawn up a chart like this watching those snaps:

Hamilton Snaps Blitzing vs Colts ‘23

3-8 BAL 49: Hamilton sack (-10)

1-10 IND 36: Pass +2

3-8 IND 38: Hamilton sack (-10)

2-5 BAL 18: Hamilton Pressure - Pass +2

3-9 BAL 42: Hamilton sack/fumble (-11)

1-10 IND 20: Hamilton Knock Down Pass - INC

1-10 IND 2: Hamilton QBH - INC

1-10 IND 38: Pass +12

1-10 50: Hamilton QBH - Pass +2

1-10 BAL 38: Pass +7

2-3 BAL 31: Hamilton QBH - Pass +2

1-10 IND 25: Sack (-2) Smith/Clowney

So that’s 12 rushes, three sacks for Hamilton, four for the team, and a turnover. That’s one first down allowed on those plays and a total of 25 passing yards and -6 net yards. Minter noticed it took Steichen and Minshew longer than it should have to make adjustments and even when they changed their hots, Macdonald kind of knew he had something whenever he deployed Hamilton from the left side.

“I'm a history major, so I continue to look back,” Venturi said. “Hamilton had three sacks against us in ‘23 with the Ravens, basically all three coming off the edge. So, what I look for is because of our boot game and the movement of Jones and (Jonathan) Taylor running the ball, I look for double-edge pressure. Hendrickson coming off one side, and then Hamilton coming off the other side.”

Me too, Coach. Me too.

Subscribe To "The Daily Flock" For Unique Ravens Content And Conversations

Add us as a preferred source on Google