Baltimore Ravens fans have been vocal in their criticism of the team, particularly its bottom-ranked defense, amid a slow start to the season.
In recent days, much of their ire has been focused on Kyle Hamilton for comments he made leading up to their Week 4 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs calling the fanbase “spoiled.” The All-Pro safety was responding to criticism of defensive coordinator Zach Orr, whose unit gave up 38 points to the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football the week before.
“Whatever
criticism [defensive coordinator Zach Orr] is getting … I don’t know, I feel like, sometimes, Ravens fans can be a little bit spoiled, with just the amount of success that this franchise has had. We lose five games, and the world is about to end,” Hamilton said on Thursday.
There may have been some nuance in Hamilton’s statement, but it came off as a tone-deaf answer from the highest-paid player on a defense that has been among the league’s worst to start the season. It was also a surprising thing to hear from one of the team’s most well-spoken leaders. Needless to say, the quote did not sit well with an already frustrated fanbase.
After another meltdown against the Chiefs on Sunday, Hamilton took full accountability for his words and the defense’s dismal performance to start the season.
“First, I just want to apologize to the fans,” said Hamilton. “The product that we’re putting on the field right now is not up to par with what the Ravens have been in the past and have been in the recent past. I think we know that. We’re trying our best to correct it, but obviously, something is wrong, so it’s up to all of us to try and fix that.”
He then addressed his controversial comments about the team’s fanbase
I feel like early in the week, I used a poor choice of words, just saying that Ravens fans were spoiled. I retract that. I meant in the sense that Ravens fans have been accustomed to great defense [and] great teams. [There] haven’t been a lot of teams in Ravens history, since 1996, to underachieve to the point where fans felt disappointed in the season as a whole, and I feel like as of right now, in Week 4, obviously, [there is] a long way to go in this season, we’re disappointed, and I’m sure the fans are disappointed, too. We have to get it fixed. We have to put a product and a team on the field that fans are proud to say they root for, proud to say they spend money on tickets to come to the games and support us.
Some fans will appreciate Hamilton’s apology and retraction, but the only true way to move past this entire situation is for the Ravens – especially their defense – to play better and win games. That will be difficult with a staggering amount of injuries piling up, but it’s hard to be patient with a team that wasn’t playing their best football when they were healthy. Frustration with the team is already surging after falling to 1-3, and any further setbacks will cause the criticism to go from loud to deafening
