The Baltimore Ravens‘ defense passed its first test. It did enough to help produce a 41-23 season-opening victory. That has created a buzz of sorts, but the guys inside the locker room didn’t get the memo.
Kyle Hamilton wasn’t handing out many compliments to himself or his teammates for what happened vs. the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium. That’s probably a good thing. He has no interest in extinguishing the fire that’s obviously burning.
From the outside, it’s easy to look at the final score and see a defense that did its job. Baltimore intercepted Dabiel Jones. They forced a fumble. They recorded two sacks, and they held Indianapolis to 251 total yards. The Ravens also repeatedly created opportunities for an offense that was already rolling. Hamilton saw something different. In a media interview, he gave the defense a C-plus as its final grade.
That grade might seem harsh after a double-digit road victory, but it revealed something important about the Ravens’ expectations under Jesse Minter. Baltimore doesn’t appear interested in judging its defense simply by whether it wins. The standard is becoming more specific: prevent touchdowns and create turnovers.
Hamilton’s assessment wasn’t complicated. He said the Ravens want to “prevent touchdowns, turn the ball over,” then acknowledged that Baltimore did a good job creating takeaways while still having plenty of room to improve in preventing scores.
That distinction matters. The Ravens created game-changing plays, but Indianapolis still moved the ball early and fairly well at various stages. Jonathan Taylor ran for 98 yards, and the Colts scored on three of their first five possessions. Their opening drive also exposed communication problems in Baltimore’s new defense before Roquan Smith’s interception helped settle things down.
The final score doesn’t erase those concerns, and Hamilton wasn’t interested in pretending it did. His feedback suggests the Ravens believe their defense can be considerably harder to score against, even when it is already making enough plays to win.
“There is some stuff we can improve on to prevent some of those touchdowns. Jonathan Taylor got going a little bit in the middle of the game, and we let them run it in a couple times… I think there is a lot of improvement. I think the turnovers saved a lot of it. There were good parts, [and] there were bad parts. C’s get degrees.”
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“There is some stuff we can improve on to prevent some of those touchdowns. Jonathan Taylor got going a little bit in the middle of the game, and we let them run it in a couple times… I think there is a lot of improvement. I think the turnovers saved a lot of it. There were good parts, [and] there were bad parts. C’s get degrees.”
The Ravens will take the degree. They don’t seem interested in settling for it. That makes the New Orleans Saints an interesting Week 2 opponent. Baltimore doesn’t need to figure out its defensive identity from scratch. Hamilton essentially laid out the blueprint: prevent touchdowns, create turnovers, and make opponents pay when opportunities appear.
The next step is consistency. The Ravens can’t expect takeaways to clean up every defensive mistake, even though those turnovers were instrumental against the Colts. Marlon Humphrey’s forced fumble and Smith’s interception helped swing momentum, while the offense made Indianapolis pay for those mistakes.
That’s a formula Baltimore will gladly use again, but it shouldn’t be the entire plan. The Saints will provide another opportunity to see whether Minter’s defense can raise its standard. Baltimore should expect to win its home opener, but Hamilton’s grade suggests the defense is measuring itself by something more demanding than the final result. A 41-23 victory is a strong way to start a season. If Hamilton’s call to arms is any indication, the Ravens believe their defense can make the next performance look considerably better.
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