Hamilton Blows Off Steam Directed at Fans

Kyle Hamilton is a terrific player. He’s a unicorn with a diverse set of talents who can liberate a defensive coordinator to show varied looks to opponents. He’s that Swiss Army Knife that any defensive play-caller covets.

Besides his skill set, I admire the man. Hamilton is a smart, poised professional who handles the media with grace and style. These are the traits of a quiet leader. But when it comes to Ravens fans, considering the team’s abysmal defensive performances through 3 games in 2025, he’s dead wrong.

What he shares in the video below are the traits of a tone-deaf player.

Kyle Hamilton defends DC Zach Orr: “I feel like sometimes Ravens fans can be a little spoiled, just like the amount of success that this franchise has had. We lose five games and the world is about to end. I think on Zach, it’s unfair to put all the blame on him.” pic.twitter.com/72HlWTFFo0

— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) September 25, 2025

I’ll give Hamilton some slack for not being able to see things through the eyes of a fan. But please allow me to help shed some light.

Throughout the offseason, we heard the players talk about their determination to get back to the postseason and the underlying message was that this time, in 2025, things would be different. They would finish.

We heard that Travis Jones played injured for most of 2024 and his teammates, specifically Kyle Van Noy, propped up Jones’ potential as that among the best defensive tackles in the NFL. We listened when Hamilton himself proclaimed Malaki Starks to be more advanced than he was as a rookie. Our attention perked up when we learned that Odafe Oweh had put on 20 pounds of muscle without losing any speed, without it affecting his change of direction skills. And we were regularly reminded that Zach Orr would be more comfortable, would be more equipped to handle the roles of game planner and play caller in 2025 than he was in 2024.

The national media weighed in. Oddsmakers far and wide listed the Ravens among the favorites to win Super Bowl LX – some even listing them as THE favorite.

All these things set expectations for fans, and when reality falls well short of expectations, frustrations set in. Going back to the Divisional Game last season, the Ravens have lost 3 of their last 4 games, each one in heartbreaking fashion.

Look, I get Hamilton sticking up for his coordinator. I get that coaches coach and players play and that the play on the field is substandard. But let’s not call out the fans because they care enough to be frustrated by the defense and its maestro. Let’s not call out the fans for buying what the players and coaches sold. Every player, every coach that receives mail at One Winning Drive is complicit. They all need to accept responsibility.

Each week John Harbaugh and Orr talk about how the Ravens will get back to work, how they’ll work things out and get better. Harbaugh even commits to the improvement. But instead, it’s the same old thing for the past 9 months since that loss at Orchard Park in January. And with the collection of defensive talent that the Ravens personnel people have assembled and then for them to rank 32nd in the league on defense, that isn’t supposed to frustrate fans? We hear about things like continuity and how the return of many defenders and the same play caller would help the Ravens defense get off to a faster start. How has that worked out so far?

But fans are spoiled. That’s funny.

Maybe it’s the players who are spoiled.

Kyle Hamilton shouldn’t be worried about the fans. He and his teammates should be more worried about their abysmal defense. They should have their collective sights set on how to dismantle the struggling Chiefs offense. They should all be, as Ray Lewis used to say, “pissed off for greatness”!

But I don’t see it. I don’t feel it. The Ravens’ defense doesn’t seem pissed off. Their culture has morphed from a blue collar, rugged team that cares, that flies to the football, to a bougie club that consists of the league’s highest paid defenders who don’t seem to want to get their uniforms dirty, who don’t play to the level of their paycheck.

I get that players need to brush off a loss & move on to the next opponent but this from Marlon Humphrey is a bit alarming. Maybe it’s me but this seems quite cavalier. Hopefully practices are far more dialed in on fixing issues, because the #Ravens defense has plenty! pic.twitter.com/vLa2I6qa6q

— Lombardi Party of One (@RSRLombardi) September 23, 2025

The national media continues to prop the Ravens up as this physical team that carries their lunch buckets and hard hats to work. A team that exerts its will upon opponents so much so that when they leave the building after the game, their sore bodies remind them that they just played the Ravens. All that now seems like ancient history. These days, Ravens’ opponents are ready to play a doubleheader.

But there’s still time to turn it around. They did it last year. Maybe they can do it again this season.

Until of course they soil the bed in the playoffs. Sorry, but that’s a sentiment that has been conditioned by a franchise that just can’t finish. And that, more than anything else is their current identity until they prove otherwise.

But go ahead, color me spoiled.

The post Hamilton Blows Off Steam Directed at Fans appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2025/09/26/lombardis-way/hamilton-says-ravens-fans-can-be-a-little-spoiled/