Kyle Hamilton sounds off on Ravens teammates "letting off the gas a little bit"
The Baltimore Ravens (7-3) did everything to stomp the Cleveland Browns (6-3) on Sunday--for a few minutes, at least. After earning an early lead, however, Baltimore didn't have a clue about how to spot an ever-improving Browns team that ended up winning their on-the-road matchup against the AFC North leaders in Week 10, beating the Ravens 33-31.
The Ravens seized a quick lead in a rather bizarre way when safety Kyle Hamilton (one of three safeties on the field along with Marcus Williams and Geno Stone) intercepted a pass from Deshaun Watson on a blitz in the first drive of Sunday.
Hamilton would simply scoop the ball, walk it into the end zone without nobody even trying to catch him, and score the first touchdown of the game for Baltimore in a rather unexpected way.
The Ravens soon extended their lead to a smooth 14–0 courtesy of undrafted rookie running back Keaton Mitchell's impressive 39-yard touchdown run on his first touch of the day. After that, however, the Browns outscored the Ravens 33-17, securing the win and closing the gap in the AFC North standings.
Hamilton was ruthless in assessing the team's performance after the game, saying (h/t Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic) "I feel like guys kind of let off the gas a little bit."
Although Hamilton did everything to help Baltimore as early as possible, the team ended up letting him down. "Not pointing fingers at all," stated Hamilton. "Just saying from top to bottom as an organization, I feel like we could do a better job of just locking in."
Hamilton took some responsibility for the team's performance, recognizing missed opportunities to secure the victory. "I think we were up 15 in the third and had the chance to put them away," he admitted. "I’m also at fault for that, you know, I feel like I could have been a little more intense at the same time."
The safety had a chance to make a legitimate statement when he went for an interception at the end of the first half in a hail mary attempt by Cleveland... only to prevent that pass from being intercepted by Geno Stone and potentially be returned for a touchdown and a 24-9 lead entering the half.
That didn't happen, the pass was never intercepted, Stone missed on picking off a quarterback for the seventh time this season, and Baltimore went on to score 14 points in the next two quarters while Cleveland scored 24 on their way to a victory.