Kyle Hamilton and Ar’Darius Washington are both dawgs — which would make Hamilton a Great Dane and Washington a cowboy pit bull, according to linebacker Roquan Smith, allegedly the worst perpetrator of jokes about the height gap between the two safeties.

When asked if that’s his favorite comparison to describe the duo, Smith proudly said he came up with it on the spot — but then he amended it. Washington is actually more like a small bully dog: “They look normally low to the ground, compact, but they pack a big punch.”

Smith might make the most jokes (“Roquan has to make them because he’s borderline short himself,” Hamilton said), but metaphors abounded in the Ravens’ locker room when players spoke about the new safety duo featuring 6-foot-4 Hamilton (90th percentile in height among safeties) and 5-foot-8 Washington (0th percentile).

Nose tackle Michael Pierce and rookie safety Sanoussi Kane compared them to former Seattle Seahawks safeties 6-foot-3 Kam Chancellor and 5-foot-10 Earl Thomas (“So I guess you can call them the Second Legion of Boom if you want,” Pierce said).

Cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis also went with a “little pit bull” for Washington. He called Hamilton “just an alien.”

Hamilton had his own duo in mind. He said they’re like SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star, two friends in a cartoon Hamilton likes to reference who get into scrapes but feed off each other to get through them. They appear to be quite different but are surprisingly similar at their core. Hamilton claimed Patrick because he’s taller, but the point of his comparison was their similarities.

Because every single person agreed that, if you take away the height difference, Hamilton and Washington are a lot alike. Teammates used the words aggressive, versatile, smart, instinctual, funny, communicative and unselfish to describe both.

“Honestly, Kyle’s just a smaller version of me, you know what I’m saying?” Washington joked with a grin.

Perhaps that’s why this duo, which emerged after a tumultuous few weeks, has helped the Ravens’ defense after a disastrous start. They’re similar players and people and thus on the same wavelength, helping the defensive back end to jell.

Signs of trouble

Baltimore’s secondary came into this season with expectations, both internal and external, of greatness. While Hamilton figured prominently into those expectations, Washington was a background character.

Coming off a season when the Ravens finished tied with the Browns for fewest yards allowed per pass attempt, the secondary was returning almost every major piece outside of Geno Stone, who led the team in interceptions.

Besides the All-Pro Hamilton, they had a former Pro Bowler in Marlon Humphrey, who returned to health. There was Marcus Williams, whom the Ravens signed to a five-year, $70 million deal in 2022 and who also returned healthier than the season before.

Cornerback Brandon Stephens emerged last season, cornerback Arthur Maulet was a reliable veteran, and 2022 fourth-rounder Jalyn Armour-Davis (another cornerback) was progressing. Then they added two cornerbacks and two safeties to the room through the draft and rookie free agency. And they signed veteran safety Eddie Jackson late.

Things did not go as planned. Early on, the Ravens were stout in defending the run but terrible against the pass. As the weeks passed, they dwelled at the bottom of the league’s stat sheets when it came to passing defense and team defense.

The secondary’s starting lineup didn’t seem to have any red flags. In the first game, Stephens and Humphrey started at cornerback, with Williams and Hamilton at safety. Jackson, Armour-Davis, first-round draft pick Nate Wiggins and Washington rotated in. And yet they gave up 291 yards through the air to quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Ravens started using different lineups. They moved Hamilton to nickel. They paired Williams with Jackson, who saw the biggest jump in participation. They temporarily got an injured Maulet back and added him to the cornerback rotation, which featured Humphrey, Stephens and Wiggins.

Although Washington also saw increased opportunities, he remained at the bottom of the rotation.

In Week 8 he got his first big chance. The Ravens benched Williams and paired Jackson and Washington deep. The secondary’s performance did not improve. The Ravens gave up 321 passing yards to a struggling Browns offense. But it was Jackson and the cornerbacks who gave up the worst plays.

So, the next game, Jackson was benched and Williams returned to play alongside Washington. Things temporarily stabilized, but the win over the Denver Broncos provided false hope when the secondary held them to 197 passing yards. A combination of Williams, Washington and Jackson yielded 421 passing yards the next week to Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Ravens tried another combination for their Week 11 road game in Pittsburgh. They moved on completely from Jackson and Williams and moved Hamilton back next to Washington while shifting Humphrey into Hamilton’s role as nickel. Finally, they struck gold.

The Ravens, who ranked 25th in scoring defense (25.3 points per game allowed) and 27th in total defense (367.9 yards per game allowed) over the first 10 weeks, have led the league in both categories over the past seven weeks (16.3 points and 267 yards, respectively). Their pass defense’s turnaround since the Hamilton-Washington duo took over has been staggering: from 32nd in pass defense to second; from 30th in expected points added per drop-back to first; and from 32nd in explosive-pass-play rate to 11th, according to TruMedia.

Stabilizing effect

With Hamilton’s intelligence and athleticism, the Ravens like playing the former first-round pick in the slot, where he can help in all phases of the defense. But Humphrey, who is having a fantastic season, can play there as well, and it turns out in the 2024 iteration of the Ravens’ defense, Hamilton’s skills are most needed at deep safety.

Coaches and teammates credit his return there as key to the turnaround.

“Honestly, if I had to just pinpoint one thing, I would say it’s putting Kyle [Hamilton] back there at safety,” Humphrey said. “That guy is just different. His play, obviously, you guys see the play, but the communication getting guys right. There are plays that I’m on the field ... I get the call, I ask Kyle ‘What do I do in this call?’ I hear Kyle give somebody else what they need to do in this call. His smarts, how he keeps the guys calm — he’s just a piece you can put at any position. But him going back to safety has seemed to really stabilize everybody else in all of their spots, whether it’s corners, communicating to the nickel, communicating to the ’backers.”

Two things have helped unlock the secondary: simplification of the defense and Hamilton’s chemistry with Washington.

While the defense hasn’t changed its playbook, the way plays are communicated has been streamlined. Calls go from defensive coordinator Zach Orr to Smith, who wears the green dot. He relays the calls to the rest of the defense. Now those calls are shorter, and one word encompasses more things. It’s helped everyone, Pierce said, but it’s made the most difference for Smith and the secondary.

“It does cut down on the time that Ro has to spit out 8,000 different words to communicate to us, to communicate to the linebackers themselves and then to communicate to the secondary,” Pierce said. “I’m sure it’s cut down the thinking a lot for them. For us, it’s pretty cut and dry.”

Once Smith relays the call, Hamilton disseminates the information among the defensive backs. He’s an extremely smart player and an effective communicator, so it’s taken a lot of stress off Smith. The linebacker said he mainly just worries about the linebackers and the front now that Hamilton’s back there.

Hamilton is communicating with everyone in the secondary, from the nickelback to the corners on the edges, but there’s also a constant stream of communication between him and Washington. Although they have not been paired together often, chemistry built quickly.

The two text every day, Hamilton said, and Washington said they always check with each other about what they’re seeing when they return to the sidelines or to the locker room. Cornerback Tre’Davious White — acquired Nov. 5 before the trade deadline — noted how impressive their communication is in meetings, as they go back and forth with each other and everyone else.

It translates on the field, and Hamilton said it’s so effective that they can switch positions between free and strong safety, depending on how they feel play to play. Hamilton has taken some hard hits this season and said Washington will take over as down safety while he collects himself and vice versa.

“Offenses can’t get tips on who’s doing what because we can do everything,” Washington said. “Both of us can do anything and any job. That’s the main thing. Like we can play sides, whatever is being called, we can just do it and handle it whichever way we need to.”

They can do that because of their similarities as players, they both said. The Ravens have played both at nickel at different times in their careers because they bring a similar versatility, able to help in coverage, stuff the run or rush the passer. Both safeties, as well as all their teammates, say they play with the same aggressiveness and are both superior athletes — just packaged in different bodies.

And both are willing to do it all, “unselfish” in their assignments, Smith said.

That has made the game easier for everyone, from the cornerbacks to the nose tackle.

The duo has yielded results, both for the team and for themselves. No opposing quarterback has surpassed 218 passing yards since Hamilton and Washington took over. Washington has come through with big momentum plays, including an interception against the Giants and a forced fumble in a goal-line stand against Russell Wilson of the Steelers. He had another goal-line stop against the Texans, which Hamilton matched with an interception.

Despite the dramatic improvement in the defense, Hamilton and Washington feel there’s more the secondary can do to reach its potential. But, by combining Hamilton’s leadership and Washington’s heart, the Ravens seem to have found a winning formula.

“Those guys look to him [Hamilton] for answers and he’s a real smart player, so he gets everybody lined up quickly, and then I just think the emergence of Ar’Darius Washington,” Orr said. “… I think, when we finally gave him his opportunity, he went out there and made the most of it, and I think he’s really become a real good NFL starting-caliber safety. I think the combination of those two things — those two guys work well together. They both can cover man coverage, play zone [coverage] and tackle really well, so I think the combination of that is really what you’ve seen.”