The Ravens were hanging . . . until they weren’t.
Baltimore was within one score with less than 2 minutes to play in the first half. But Parker Washington beat Malaki Starks, and after a bobble of Trevor Lawrence’s pass, secured the catch and raced 50 yards for a touchdown with 58 seconds left in the half.
The Jaguars lead the Ravens 17-3 at halftime.
The Ravens started undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano with Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley on injured reserve. They opened the game with Derrick Henry in the wildcat and called seven plays out of the formation.
The Ravens had 17 runs and 12 passes as they shortened the half. Henry had 12 carries for 51 yards and threw a pass that lost 3 yards.
Zay Flowers had two rushes for 16 yards and two catches for 2 yards.
Fagnano, who lined up at quarterback for only 12 plays, was 7-of-11 for 30 yards.
The Jaguars outgained the Ravens 223 to 101, with Lawrence going 9-of-15 for 197 yards and a touchdown.
Running back Bhayshul Tuten, who was questionable to play with ankle and foot injuries, scored a 1-yard touchdown on the team’s opening drive. He has 22 yards on eight carries.
Jakobi Meyers has four catches for 65 yards, with Washington adding two for 61 and rookie tight end Nate Boerkircher one for 52.
Linebacker Foyesade Oluokun leads the Jacksonville defense with six tackles and a sack.
The Ravens held the ball for 17:31 of the first 30 minutes.
Ravens Clips
The Jaguars didn’t waste any time in showing off on national television.
They took the opening kickoff and moved 77 yards on seven plays, with running back Bhayshul Tuten scoring from the 1 on third down. Tuten was questionable to play with ankle/foot injuries.
It was the only third down the Jaguars faced on the drive.
Trevor Lawrence was 3-for-4 for 72 yards, including a 52-yarder to rookie tight end Nate Boerkircher. Boerkircher got lost by the defense as Lawrence rolled to his right to avoid pressure.
Lawrence also threw a 16-yard pass to Jakobi Meyers.
Tuten has two carries for 5 yards.
The Jaguars will have running back Bhayshul Tuten and defensive end Travon Walker for Thursday Night Football against the Ravens.
Both players are active after being questionable on the final injury report.
Walker has a rib injury and Tuten injured his ankle/foot last week.
Walker has played in every game, seeing action on 330 defensive snaps. He has totaled three sacks, seven quarterback hits, one pass defensed and 18 tackles.
Tuten has played 241 snaps in seven games, totaling 125 touches for 673 yards and six touchdowns.
The Jaguars’ inactives are wide receiver CJ Williams, cornerback Alijah Huzzie, safety Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig and defensive end Wesley Williams.
The Ravens’ inactives are quarterback Kedon Slovis, wide receiver Elijah Sarratt, offensive lineman Emery Jones Jr., defensive lineman Aeneas Peebles, cornerback Nate Wiggins (stinger/illness) and safety Jaylinn Hawkins (knee). Slovis is the emergency third quarterback, meaning Austin Reed, who the Ravens signed on Monday, will be the No. 2 quarterback behind Joe Fagnano.
Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley are officially on the Ravens’ injured reserve list.
It’s been known for a few days that both quarterbacks were headed to the list and the moves were announced ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Jaguars. Huntley is going to miss the rest of the season with a toe injury and Jackson may be out for the rest of the year as well. He is set for surgery on his right thumb after being injured early in last Sunday’s loss to the Bills.
Huntley was injured a short time later, which led to Joe Fagnano’s regular season debut. He’ll make his starting debut against Jacksonville and Austin Reed will be on hand to back him up. Reed signed to the practice squad this week and the team announced that he’s now been signed to the active roster. They also signed Kedon Slovis off of the Packers’ practice squad this week.
The makeup of the quarterback room is set to change again next week. The Ravens are finalizing a trade with the Cardinals that will bring Jacoby Brissett to Baltimore.
In addition to the quarterback moves, the Ravens also elevated kicker Jake Moody and linebacker Adisa Isaac from the practice squad for Thursday night.
With quarterback Lamar Jackson’s ninth NFL season possibly over after three full games and two first-half exits, obvious questions have emerged regarding his future in Baltimore.
The facts fuel the speculation. He’s under contract for one more season, and the Ravens can’t use the franchise tag or the transition tag to limit his ability to become an unrestricted free agent in March 2028, which is only 16 months away.
If Jackson wants a fresh start at age 31, he’ll be able to have one.
The Ravens made it clear in January that they wanted to extend his contract by the start of the new league year in March 2026. It didn’t happen, for reasons that never became clear because neither Jackson nor the Ravens (at Jackson’s behest) share information about the negotiations.
Before the season began, it seemed that a new contract wa just a matter of time. The Ravens surely would like to do it before the start of the new league year in March, when Jackson’s cap number spikes to $84.34 million. Although the team has the right to do another restructuring that would reduce the 2027 cap number, that would make the dead-cap reckoning even larger as of 2028.
A trade would avoid the final $52 million in cash and cap charges, but the cap realities would make a post-June 1 move the far better option. And there have been whispers of at least one team doing advance homework on a potential pursuit of Jackson in 2027.
The overriding question is whether Jackson’s lingering availability issue changes things for the Ravens. For now, there’s no reason to think it has. When the dust settles on the season, the Ravens will have to revisit that question.
But that will lead to another question. What would they do at quarterback without Lamar Jackson? That simple reality prompted them to give him a market-level deal in 2023, and to want to do it again.
As long as that desire to avoid a future without Lamar Jackson remains, there’s no reason to think he won’t be back in Baltimore in 2027.
The Jaguars will be making gameday calls about a pair of starters before facing the Ravens on Thursday night.
They listed running back Bhayshul Tuten (ankle, foot) and defensive end Travon Walker (rib) as questionable to play in the game. Tuten was listed as a non-participant in practice all week while Walker moved up to limited participation the last two days.
If Tuten cannot play, Chris Rodriguez, Ameer Abdullah, and LeQuint Allen will be the running back options for Jacksonville. Tuten is coming off a 159-yard, two touchdown performance against the Colts in Week 8.
Walker has 18 tackles, three sacks and seven quarterback hits this season. Josh Hines-Allen, Bryan Thomas, and Danny Striggow also saw action at defensive end against Indianapolis.
The Ravens are set to have right guard Vega Ioane back in the lineup on Thursday night.
Ioane missed last Sunday’s loss to the Bills with a knee injury, but he was listed as a full participant in practice for the second straight day on Wednesday and has no injury designation for the home game against the Jaguars.
Safety Jaylinn Hawkins will not be joining him in the lineup. Hawkins was ruled out with a knee injury.
Quarterbacks Lamar Jackson (thumb) and Tyler Huntley (toe) are the only other players ruled out. Both of them are destined for the injured reserve list. Undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano will start and the Ravens are finalizing a deal to acquire Jacoby Brissett from the Cardinals, although he will not join the team in time for Thursday’s game.
Cornerback Nate Wiggins (stinger, illness) is listed as questionable along with running back Adam Randall (neck). Randall will need to be activated from injured reserve to play against Jacksonville.
The Ravens will be starting Joe Fagnano at quarterback against the Jaguars on Thursday night, but it looks like they will have a more experienced option available for Week 10 and beyond.
ESPN reports that they are finalizing a trade with the Cardinals for Jacoby Brissett. The deal will not be done by Thursday night’s game, but it is expected to be completed over the weekend.
Brissett started the first eight games of the season for Arizona, but was benched in favor of Gardner Minshew last Sunday and demoted to the No. 3 spot on the depth chart this week. Brissett signed a revised contract with the Cardinals after a protracted absence from the team this offseason, but most of the money has been paid out already and the Ravens will be responsible for the remainder of his base salary.
The move to No. 3 made Brissett an obvious trade candidate and the Ravens were a logical destination. Lamar Jackson could be out for the rest of the season with a thumb injury and Tyler Huntley will miss the rest of the year with turf toe, which left the undrafted Fagnano and other inexperienced players as the in-house options for Baltimore.
Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley’s season is reportedly over.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that tests on Huntley’s toe showed a turf toe injury that will require him to miss the rest of the team’s games.
Huntley had already been ruled out for Thursday night’s game against the Jaguars, which has undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano in line to make his first NFL start. With Lamar Jackson dealing with a thumb injury that could also keep him out for the season, Fagnano could have an extended run in the starting job unless the Ravens opt to move in a different direction.
Kedon Slovis and Austin Reed are the other in-house options, but both of them just signed with the team this week so it’s less than an ideal situation for the Ravens’ bid to stay in the AFC playoff race.
With the Ravens down to their third-string quarterback on Thursday night against the Jaguars, Baltimore will rely heavily on running back Derrick Henry. Unfortunately for the Ravens, it’s been a long time since a running back has had a big game against the Jaguars’ defense.
The Jaguars haven’t allowed an opposing runner to gain 75 or more yards in a game in the last 24 games. If the Jaguars don’t allow a 75-yard runner against the Ravens on Thursday night, they will become just the third team in the Super Bowl era to go 25 straight games without allowing an opposing runner to gain 75 yards.
Henry is leading the NFL with 158 rushing attempts this season, and he may very well get the ball even more than 20 times per game he’s averaging so far this season. Undrafted rookie quarterback Joe Fagnano is making the first start of his career for the Ravens, so they’re likely to need to get a big game running the ball if they’re going to pull off the upset over the Jaguars.
Although Henry is still carrying the ball a lot at the age of 32, his effectiveness has waned. He’s averaging a career-low 4.0 yards per carry. It won’t be easy to have a breakout game against the Jaguars, but the Ravens need him to do it.
