Ravens, Kyle Hamilton Prepare To Contain Travis Kelce

Stopping the Kansas City Chiefs offense is easier said than done. Luckily for the Baltimore Ravens, they have the players in place to neutralize some of their best offensive weapons.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce is well on his way to being a First-Ballot NFL Hall-of-Famer. His connection with quarterback Patrick Mahomes has put him in the record books for postseason touchdowns over a career. 

Stopping Kelce or Mahomes is no easy feat. As the Baltimore Ravens prepare for their AFC Championship bout against two of the best offensive players in league history, there's reason to be confident that they have a plan to stop them both. 

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Netruelizing Kelce is the first step to stopping Kansas City's offense. When your team possesses a top defensive star like Kyle Hamilton, though, that goal becomes certainly attainable.

"He (Kelce) has earned every ounce of respect that he has received until this point, and it will be a challenge," Hamilton said. "I am part of the plan to hopefully take him away, but it is a team effort at the same time. We have to have guys up front rushing the quarterback, make it unclear on [Patrick] Mahomes, and then in the backend, it isn’t going to be man-to-man [coverage] the whole game. We have to have guys in the right spots, guys attached to [their assignments].”

Hamilton may be one of the more uniquely qualified defenders capable of stopping the offensive juggernaut that is the Mahomes-Kelce duo. 

The former Notre Dame product picked off four passes, with 81 tackles, 13 passes defended, and three sacks. He also received the highest grade of any safety in Pro Football Focus history. 

But as good as Hamilton has been, a big part of the success he's had should be credited to the defensive scheme run by defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald.

"I like the duality of it. First off, we have guys upfront who allow us to do a bunch of stuff on the backend, in terms of doing their job correctly," Hamilton explained. "Moving around, everybody doing different things, it doesn’t make us one-dimensional. We have a bunch of guys who can do a lot of different stuff, and it makes it hard on the offense not to know who is doing what on each snap. I feel like everybody has done a good job of buying into that.”

Hamilton won't be the only player matching up against Kelce. In order for Baltimore to get a comfortable advantage over the defending Super Bowl champs, disguising looks and getting a consistent pass rush will be key. 

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Regardless of the different looks though, the matchup of Hamilton on Kelce could very well decide which team goes home, and which team represents the AFC in Super Bowl LVIII. 

When it comes to Hamilton, though, he's more than up for the challenge.