The Ravens are going to start their third quarterback of the Jesse Minter era Thursday night against Super Bowl hopeful Jacksonville, in what could be their fourth-straight defeat.

When the Ravens kept undrafted rookie quarterback Joe Fagnano after a tryout at rookie camp many were surprised and when he made it deep into training camp it was a major upset and when he played quite well after veteran third-QB Skylar Thompson got hurt it was a major surprise and when he made the opening day roster, it was a complete shocker.

Now, he will be making his first NFL start, in primetime, with Lamar Jackson (thumb) almost assuredly having made his last appearance of the season (and perhaps of his Ravens career) and with veteran backup Snoop Huntley (toe) out as well. All three quarterbacks got hurt in the opening half of Sunday’s disgraceful, 36-10 loss at Buffalo, and even Fagnano has been limited this week with an ankle injury, but he is the best option for this game.

The Ravens signed Austin Reed, who was with them briefly this summer, to serve as the backup and they signed Kedon Slovis from the Packers practice squad for depth. Many NFL executives have suggested to me they expect the Ravens to secure veteran Jacoby Brissett, who has started the last two years at Arizona before losing that job Sunday.

Fagnano had been serving as the emergency third-QB before Sunday, when he had to enter the game behind a terrible offensive line in the second quarter and he, too, was immediately under fire with the Bills generating pressure on 65% of Baltimore’s dropbacks

Difficult Assignment

Fagnano spoke about the support he has received from future Hall of Famers like Calais Campbell and Derrick Henry – both of whom should be deal by the trade deadline next Tuesday if this organization is capable of doing the right thing – and is trying to prepare as best he can in such a short week for an opportunity that many never thought would materialize.

“It’s special,” the rookie said. “That’s really the only way I can think about it. You work a lot to get to this position. It’s unfortunate to see what happened to Lamar and Snoop, especially being two guys I look up to … That part’s tough, but I’ve had talks with them and it’s truly a next-man up mentality, and my job now is just to play to the best of my ability.”

Fagnano was getting his ankle taped shortly after entering the game and was beaten up by Buffalo’s defense with rookie offensive coordinator Declan Doyle failing to run the ball enough or max protect. Baltimore has had no run game since Jackson suffered his high-ankle sprain in the first half in Week 4, with Henry running more than anyone in the NFL this year but averaging just 4.0 yards per carry (it was 5.5 the last two years). Doyle must get many people involved in the run game – including rookie Adam Randall coming back from IR – because at age 32, behind this line, Henry is getting crushed at or behind the line of scrimmage.

Volume in the run game will be imperative. Fagnano said he has been doing walk throughs and mock practices with his wife to try to prepare for the biggest moment of his professional life, but the Jaguars defense is quite good and balanced, they reached the playoffs last season, enjoyed a bye in Week 7 and had the Colts put to bed Sunday well before halftime (42-7) so they will be fresher and healthier than Baltimore in the short week.

Fagnano tried to downplay his health (“Every game you’ve got bumps and bruises,” Fagnano said), but the reality is the Ravens were not certain he was going to be able to play in this game, and this will be a very tall ask.

“You always go into each game with the same preparation,” Fagnano said, “because you always know, as we’ve seen, your number can be called at any moment … Just keeping the preparation the same.”

The Jaguars (5-2)  are second in the NFL in scoring defense, allowing just 16 points per game, and the Ravens are likely to be underdogs with regularity the rest of the year no matter what they do at the trade deadline.

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