Jaguars keep rolling in riot of Ravens

The energy inside M&T Bank Stadium was subdued from the start on Thursday night, with the home Baltimore Ravens fans just a few days removed from a potential season-ending hand injury to Lamar Jackson in their team’s hefty defeat to the Buffalo Bills.

Things weren’t going to be any easier for starting debut quarterback Joe Fagnano on primetime, as they hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars, who were fresh off a 35-point demolition of the Indianapolis Colts in Week 8, and looked to work their way towards the AFC’s number 1 seed.

Jacksonville made their intentions clear from the start, setting the tone with a swift 4-minute drive down the field. After Trevor Lawrence connected with Nate Boerkircher for 52 yards, the Jaguars were inside the red zone, and despite being stopped on the goal line a couple of times, Bhayshul Tuten was not to be denied, punching in the opening score of the night.

Working with their third-string quarterback, the Ravens had no choice but to rely heavily on Derrick Henry and the run game in the early going. The star running back did enough to get them into field goal range, setting up Jake Moody, who also made his debut for Baltimore, to nail a 53-yarder for their first points of the night.

Lawrence continued to deal the ball around through the air, finding Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington for big gains, before Cam Little negated Moody’s kick with a successful one of his own.

From there, Jacksonville’s defense took complete command of the game. Baltimore were forced to punt on their final 3 drives of the first half, and remarkably, did not generate a single offensive play of 10+ yards to the main break.

In between defensive possessions, the Jaguars offense kept threatening to break the game open and eventually found what they were after on the brink of halftime. From right on midfield, Lawrence hit Washington in stride on a perfect pass, allowing him to sprint all of 50 yards into the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown, leaving the visitors with a 17-3 lead.

Fagnano’s struggles did not improve whatsoever in the third quarter. Within a few minutes, he threw an interception to Montaric Brown as the home fans started to make their frustrations known. Jacksonville parlayed the turnover into Little’s second field goal of the night, extending the advantage to 3 scores.

The Ravens’ best play all night came when Malaki Starks forced a fumble from Travis Hunter, which Teddye Buchanan swooped on to at least give Baltimore’s offense a chance with advantageous field position. But disaster struck once again when Mark Andrews fumbled a 4th down snap on an attempted sneak play, giving the Jaguars back the ball immediately.

With Fagnano’s second interception of the night sandwiched in between, Little added 47 and 33-yard field goals to bring the margin out to 23 points early in the last quarter, as many of the Ravens faithful had already headed home for an early night’s sleep.

Baltimore’s performance did not need any emphasis as to just how poor it was, but they got it when LaJohntay Wester fumbled a kickoff, which Jacksonville picked up for their third takeaway of the night. Chris Rodriguez Sr. got in on the act with his first touchdown of the night, and despite a 65-yard consolation score from Justice Hill, the Jaguars secured yet another blowout victory, winning 33-10 on the road.

If there was any hope that the Ravens might be able to remain competitive during Lamar Jackson’s time on injured reserve to set up a return just before the playoffs, it would be safe to say that has now been abolished. This team will be as hard to watch as any over the next month, although they will benefit from an upgrade at quarterback when new acquisition Jacoby Brissett makes his team debut next week.

Touchdowns
Jacksonville: Tuten, Washington, Rodriguez Sr.
Baltimore: Hill

Top Performers
Jacksonville: Washington, Little, Brown, Walker, Oluokun
Baltimore: Hamilton, Jones, Hill

Injuries
Jacksonville: N/A
Baltimore: Hamilton (hip)

Crowd: TBC @ M&T Bank Stadium