Kyle Hamilton wasn’t trying to stay late.
The Ravens weren’t supposed to win this one. With QB Lamar Jackson out with a sprained ankle, backup Tyler Huntley started, and Baltimore trailed the Atlanta Falcons 23-15 after Nick Folk’s 48-yard field goal with 2:31 left on Sunday night.
Huntley hit wide receiver Devontez Walker for a seven-yard touchdown with 40 seconds remaining, and running back Derrick Henry ran in the two-point conversion to force overtime. Baltimore then took the opening possession of the extra period 63 yards in 14 plays, burning 7:03 of the 10-minute period before Huntley scored on a one-yard run.
Atlanta needed a touchdown to keep the game going. Two plays in, QB Tua Tagovailoa, who was in for Michael Penix Jr. after Penix left late in regulation with a rib injury, threw for Drake London on first-and-10 near midfield. Hamilton jumped the route, and the Ravens had a 30-23 win.
On NBC afterward, Hamilton explained his urgency.
“I don’t get paid overtime, so we’re out here for free,” he said. “So I was trying to get back home as quick as possible.”
The play meant a little more to Hamilton than most. The Atlanta native starred at the nearby Marist School and said he probably knew 500-plus people in the stands at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
It was his first game there. He was supposed to play in the building once before, in his high school state championship, but snow moved the game and his team lost. He said that one still bugs him.
It was also Hamilton’s first interception since Christmas Day 2024.
“Tua tried to look me off, but I was just looking off the quarterback’s eyes, and [I] just caught the ball,” he told reporters after the game.
The bigger point, Hamilton said, was how the Ravens finished. Baltimore has let plenty of fourth-quarter leads slip away in recent seasons, and he called this one a turning point.
“That is a game that we have lost many times,” Hamilton said. “That is just us getting over some sort of hump or dark cloud. I am excited for the future.”
The win moved the Ravens to 4-1 for the first time since 2021 and into sole possession of first place in the AFC North. They visit the Cleveland Browns next Sunday.
