nfl
The Ravens gave an undrafted rookie his first NFL start Thursday
Joe Fagnano passed for 30 yards in a 34-6 loss to the Jaguars. The Ravens were 9.5-point home underdogs, the largest spread against them at home since 2015.
An undrafted rookie made his first NFL start at quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night and passed for 30 yards in a 34-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Ravens were 9.5-point home underdogs, the largest spread against them at home since 2015. The line reflected two injuries: Lamar Jackson was out with a thumb, and Tyler Huntley was on injured reserve with turf toe. The job fell to Joe Fagnano, who had never taken a regular-season snap.
The Ravens ran the ball and asked Fagnano to manage the game. Derrick Henry carried 12 times for 51 yards and moved past LaDainian Tomlinson into seventh on the NFL’s all-time rushing list. Fagnano completed seven of 11 passes for 30 yards, was sacked once and did not turn the ball over. His rating was 67.6.
That output produced six points, all on field goals. The Ravens gained 101 total yards. Trevor Lawrence needed 15 attempts to throw for 197 yards and a touchdown for the Jaguars, a 50-yarder to Parker Washington in the second quarter. Bhayshul Tuten, the Jaguars running back who missed every practice this week with an ankle injury before playing anyway, scored on a six-yard run.
The Jaguars’ defense was allowing 15.9 points per game, second in the league. The Ravens had allowed 35 or more in two straight. The gap was not subtle, and the score confirmed what the spread had said.
What the coverage missed
The pregame coverage treated Fagnano’s start as a curiosity. An undrafted rookie with a 100.4 preseason rating was getting his chance. He completed seven passes for 30 yards, and the Ravens gained 25 net passing yards as a team.
Fagnano averaged 2.7 yards per attempt. No NFL offense can function at that rate, and the Ravens did not ask him to. They ran Henry, threw short and punted. The Jaguars rushed four and covered, because there was no reason to blitz an offense that could not threaten them downfield.
The short week shaped this game as much as the injuries did. Fagnano had not taken first-team reps during the season. He had three days to prepare for a defense allowing 15.9 points per game. The result was a game plan that treated its own quarterback as a liability to be managed, not a player to be deployed.
What I think
Thursday Night Football put an undrafted rookie on national television because two quarterbacks got hurt. He threw for 30 yards, his team scored six points, and the game was over at halftime.
This is the same schedule that sent Bhayshul Tuten onto the field three days after an injury that erased a week of practice. The difference is that Tuten is a starter with a track record. Fagnano is a rookie who had never played. The short week failed to protect injured players. It also failed to prepare the players who replaced them.
The league has sold Thursday games to Amazon for a reported $1 billion a year. That contract will outlast every quarterback on the Ravens’ roster. The schedule is the issue, and the schedule is not changing.
An undrafted rookie making his first start should be a story about opportunity. On a Thursday night, with three days to prepare and two quarterbacks ahead of him on injured reserve, it was a story about a system that had no better option and chose to televise it anyway.