Baltimore Ravens defensive back Kyle Hamilton has been to the playoffs every season of his career, but he will have to wait to see a Super Bowl after his team lost 27-25 to the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Round.
Hamilton is no stranger to a disappointing playoff loss, and that was apparent after the game against the Bills.
“High – a high frustration level,” Hamilton said postgame per the team’s website. “This is nothing that we planned for. It’s a shock to everybody walking off that field – definitely me – for it to just be over like that. We feel like we have the team and the mentality to win a Super Bowl every year we come out. Obviously, it’s easy to say that, and every team says that, and we [have] to just go back to the drawing board and find out what we need to do to get to that point.”
The Ravens were the No. 1 seed in the AFC last season and finished No. 3 this year, and yet, the team still hasn’t seen a Super Bowl appearance in the Lamar Jackson era.
Baltimore knows how high its expectations are, and Hamilton believes the team fell short once again.
“We kind of set ourselves back earlier in the season, and therefore we [had] to come on the road and stuff like that,” Hamilton said. “It doesn’t matter – the environment or whatever people we have. I feel like we can go up against anybody and get a win. With Lamar [Jackson] at quarterback – we have ‘Ro’ [Roquan Smith] leading the defense – there’s really not much more that you need. You just have to put people around them with the right mentality. It’s not a personnel thing. It’s not a coaching thing. [We] just didn’t execute at the end of the day.”
Now, the Ravens will have a whole offseason to stew and reflect upon their disappointing loss against the Bills. Sleep will be lost, but the team will look to use that as fuel going into next season, where it should have a chance to be one of the best squads in the AFC that can compete for a Super Bowl.