All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton blasts Ravens' struggling defense

The Baltimore Ravens are 3-2 and atop the AFC North, but unlike in the past, this is not because of their defense.

Through the first five weeks of the season, the Ravens are allowing the second-most passing yards per game (280.2) and seventh-most points per game (25.2) in the league.

All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton, Baltimore's first-round pick in 2022, is unhappy with his defense's performance, reiterating that actions speak louder than words.

"I think most of our problems is nothing structural, it's fundamental stuff," Hamilton said via the team's website. "We've got to tackle, get off blocks, we've got to communicate. We've been saying this for five weeks now. It's time to start actually doing it, not coming up here and just saying it. It's up to us on the back end to get that fixed and go out and play a complete game."

Hamilton has been patient through the first month of the season, but the defense's poor showing in the Ravens' 41-38 overtime win against the Cincinnati Bengals last week was all he needed to start speaking up.

Baltimore gave up a season-high 392 yards and five touchdown passes to quarterback Joe Burrow.

"We gave up 38 points and the offense did everything in their power to get us to win that game," Hamilton added. "At least as a secondary, being as blunt as possible, we've kind of plateaued in our getting better throughout the season."

Fixing that will be difficult for the Ravens to do in Week 6 when they host the red-hot Washington Commanders (4-1), who are averaging the most points per game (31) and fourth most total yards per game (392.6) in the NFL.

However, Baltimore must try if it wants to remain atop the AFC North and in the hunt for the playoffs.

"We've had good weeks with Buffalo, and we've had bad weeks like this week," Hamilton finished. "It's up to us to fix that."