Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday that safety Kyle Hamilton’s left knee was “stable” and injury news on the first-round pick was “trending in the right way.” That doesn’t mean Hamilton will play Sunday in Jacksonville, but if Harbaugh is correct, the rookie won’t miss significant time. That, in itself, is a positive development for the Ravens after Hamilton was helped off the field in the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers and was unable to put much weight on his left leg.
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'It felt like Ravens football': Baltimore leans on defense to secure win over Carolina
For all the deserved credit that inside linebackers Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen have gotten for the defense’s recent improvement, Hamilton’s emergence has been a major factor as well. Gone is the unsure-of-himself rookie who was prone to blown coverages and missed tackles. Over the past few weeks, Hamilton has played with speed and physicality. He’s performed exceptionally well in man-to-man coverage all season. That has continued. But now, he’s tackling better, he’s making plays close to the line of scrimmage and he’s making his presence felt as a blitzer.
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Defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald has clearly found a role that brings out the best in the former Notre Dame standout. That’s having Hamilton do a little of everything and be a chess piece of sorts. Hamilton has also helped fill the nickel spot, which has been a trouble area for the Ravens since the start of the season.
Hamilton was probably having the best game of his young career when he went down Sunday. Losing him for any amount of time would challenge the team’s secondary depth. Marcus Williams is said to still be a few weeks away from returning from a wrist injury. Chuck Clark appeared to sustain a ribs or chest injury against the Panthers, although he finished the game.
It wasn’t long ago when there were concerns about why Hamilton was not playing a whole lot. Now, if he has to miss time, there will be questions about how the Ravens go about filling his role. He’s been pretty important to what Baltimore has done defensively over the past couple of weeks.
Patrick Queen coming on
It would be easy to credit the acquisition of Smith for Queen’s recent strong play, but the third-year pro started to turn it on even before Smith’s arrival. Over his past four games, Queen has 32 tackles, 1 1/2 sacks and four tackles for loss. Like Hamilton, he’s tackling much better and getting to the football quickly, but also in control. He has been much more competitive in coverage, too.
When Queen was struggling early in the season, it was fair to wonder whether the Ravens were primed to decline the fifth-year option on the former LSU star’s rookie contract in the offseason. Now, the thought of him and Smith, who obviously would have to be extended, being the inside linebacker tandem going forward has to be pretty enticing for Ravens decision-makers.
They already have shown they can play off one another, and they have just two games together under their belt.
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Other thoughts
• As has been the case for much of the season, Marlon Humphrey was the best Raven on the field against the Panthers. He was involved in two of the Ravens’ three fourth-quarter takeaways. Per NFL Next Gen Stats, Humphrey allowed zero receptions on two targets in 31 coverage snaps. He also set a tone from a physicality standpoint. On the Panthers’ second play, Baker Mayfield threw it to Laviska Shenault in the flat. Humphrey drove on the ball and drove through wide receiver Shi Smith, who just happened to be in his way. Humphrey pushed Smith into Shenault’s path. Shenault, an explosive run-after-the-catch receiver, lost a yard and was never a factor the rest of the way. He had four catches for seven yards.
• Just about every time he came off the field Sunday, cornerback Marcus Peters was stretching out or having his surgically repaired knee worked on. Peters is clearly not all the way back from his season-ending knee injury and it’s shown at different points this year. He’s been a step behind at times. There were a couple of Mayfield passes Sunday that a pre-injury Peters probably steps in front of and returns for six. But in addition to being a big-play threat, what Peters has done really well this year is come forward and tackle. That’s never been his strength, but give him credit. He’s been a very willing and steady tackler.
• Lamar Jackson credited Panthers defensive tackle Bravvion Roy for making a “great play” on his second-quarter interception. That’s nice of Jackson to dole out some credit, and big-man interceptions are worthy of praise, but Jackson threw the ball right to Roy while trying to connect with Mark Andrews. Jackson had two open receivers who had broken free to the quarterback’s right, but he was focused on getting the ball to Andrews.
• Jackson did a nice job on those outside-the-numbers throws to Demarcus Robinson, particularly on some of the quick outs. The timing was good and so was Jackson’s accuracy, and the former hasn’t always been the case on those types of routes in recent years. The Ravens again, though, did not look particularly sharp or comfortable running screen passes. It remains a mystery why the offense struggles to pull off positive screen plays.
• Robinson had nine catches for 128 yards. The Ravens’ other three active receivers — Devin Duvernay, James Proche and Tylan Wallace — combined for one catch for three yards. If DeSean Jackson, who is dealing with a hamstring strain, isn’t ready to go Sunday, the Ravens will have to consider giving Binjimen Victor or Andy Isabella a look from the practice squad. They just aren’t getting enough from their secondary wide receivers.
• In the last two games, Duvernay has two catches on two targets for eight total yards. In four of his past five games, Duvernay has two receptions or fewer. Panthers standout corner Jaycee Horn was all over Duvernay Sunday, but offensive coordinator Greg Roman needs to find a way to get the ball to Duvernay more, even if he does it unconventionally. The Ravens just don’t have enough dynamic offensive playmakers to excuse Duvernay not being more involved.
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• You’ve surely heard the one man’s trash is another man’s treasure cliche before. Well, how about Robinson and running back Kenyan Drake? Both were let go by the Las Vegas Raiders, neither even making it to the final roster cutdown stage. Now, they’re key players on a team that is 7-3 and leading the AFC North.
• As I’ve said in this space often, I really don’t want to spend too much time fixating on the officiating. There are questionable calls in every game and Sunday was no different with Jerome Boger’s crew in Baltimore. But what’s frustrating, and it seems to be way too common with Boger’s crew, is just the slow pace of everything. Too many extended conversations. Too many prolonged stoppages. Too much confusion. Why it took so long to decide the spot on Andrews’ catch was not reviewable is beyond me. That was just one example. It was tough to watch at times.
• The fourth-quarter holding penalty on Proche that wiped out a 31-yard Jackson run was a borderline call that probably could have been let go. Still, it’s not the first time Proche has found himself the guilty party on a potential key call. That’s Proche’s fourth penalty this season, which is the fourth most on the team. That’s too many for a guy who hasn’t played a ton of snaps. Proche nearly has as many accepted penalty yards (39) as he does receiving yards (53).
• When the Ravens win the coin toss, Harbaugh has traditionally deferred, wanting to get the ball at the start of the second half. On Sunday, he took the ball first. That, Harbaugh said, was a nod to the windy conditions at M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens wanted to have the wind behind them in the fourth quarter in case they needed a long field goal attempt to win the game.
• Baltimore’s offense needs to be better at closing out games. It wasn’t costly against a bad Panthers team Sunday, but it will be against better opponents. On back-to-back possessions in the second half of the fourth quarter, the defense gave the offense the ball well into Carolina territory and the Ravens couldn’t muster a point or eat much clock. They started drives at the Panthers’ 35 and 41 and punted both times. On the first one, the Ravens had a third-and-7 from the Panthers’ 32 with under five minutes remaining and Roman called a pass play. Jackson was sacked and the Ravens were pushed out of field goal range. I don’t get the play call at all, especially with your All-Pro left tackle out. Why risk an interception or strip-sack that could get Carolina back in the game? Run the ball, and at worst, you force the Panthers to take their second timeout and then you trot Justin Tucker on the field, where a field goal would give you a 13-point lead with just over four minutes to play.
• There’s been a lot of questions about why inside linebacker Josh Bynes has been a healthy scratch the past two weeks. The first reason is the Ravens acquired Roquan Smith, which dropped Bynes down the depth chart. The second reason is Bynes isn’t a part of the special teams units. If you’re going to be a backup inside linebacker on game days, it’s imperative that you play special teams. That’s what Malik Harrison does. That’s what Kristian Welch does. And that’s what Del’Shawn Phillips does.
• The Ravens enter Week 12 ranked ninth in the league with 31 sacks. That’s impressive when you consider Odafe Oweh has just one and the Ravens spent the early part of the season leaning heavily on outside linebackers signed off the street or veteran practice squad elevations. Baltimore is primed to improve on that number, too. It’s been heavily rotating edge guys and its interior defensive linemen in recent weeks. For example, Calais Campbell has played under 40 snaps in back-to-back weeks. Justin Houston has averaged less than 25 snaps over the past four games. Campbell and Houston looked like they ran out of gas late last season. That shouldn’t happen this year given their usage to this point.
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• The unheralded star of the Ravens’ effort Sunday was the member of the equipment staff who was tasked with making sure there was a jacket to drape over Jackson during every stoppage. The staff member was sprinting down the sideline and on and off the field all afternoon. His speed and work rate were quite impressive.
(Top photo of Kyle Hamilton: Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
