BALTIMORE (AP) — Joe Fagnano had three days to prepare for his first NFL start.
During the Baltimore Ravens’ 33-10 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night, it often looked like it.
Summoned into duty with two-time MVP Lamar Jackson and backup Tyler Huntley hitting injured reserve, Fagnano completed 10 of 18 passes for 60 yards and threw two interceptions in the Ravens’ fourth straight defeat.
“I think anytime you’ve got a quick turnaround,
it (poses) its own challenges,” the 25-year-old undrafted rookie said. “But I’m not here to sit up here and make excuses. I mean, they were on a short week as well. Credit to the Jaguars, they played well. Just didn’t execute today.”
Before Tuesday’s trade deadline, the Ravens are expected to add Jacoby Brissett, who started Arizona’s first eight games before losing that job to Gardner Minshew. That likely means Fagnano will go back to the bench before Baltimore’s Monday night Week 10 game against the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I know that our front office and ownership are going to do what’s necessary to give us a chance,” Ravens coach Jesse Minter said. “Tons of respect for Joe and how he operated and how he played. … Anybody that comes in, we’ll see how it goes, and we’ll see where it takes us.”
The Ravens leaned heavily on a Wildcat formation led by running back Derrick Henry to protect Fagnano, who entered training camp fourth on Baltimore’s quarterback depth chart before Skylar Thompson’s season-ending injury.
That mostly worked until Trevor Lawrence connected for a 50-yard touchdown to Parker Washington to stretch Jacksonville’s lead to 17-3 shortly before halftime.
“I thought the team was ready to play, and from a competitive standpoint, I really think the explosive play before the half really kind of broke the game open,” Minter said.
Asked to do more after halftime, Fagnano threw picks to Montaric Brown and Jourdan Lewis on similar out routes toward Zay Flowers.
His teammates displayed similar sloppiness, committing six false-start penalties. Tight end Mark Andrews also fumbled a snap on a fourth-down attempt in the third quarter.
Fagnano believed the altered game plan in a short week made sense after Jackson and Huntley both exited early in Sunday’s 36-10 loss at Buffalo.
“Derrick Henry, you want to get him to the ball anyway, so that was just part of the plan,” Fagnano said. “It was obviously to run, and I feel like we did that pretty well there in some spurts. We’ve got to be able to sustain some drives, whether that’s me making a play or making a better decision or not shooting ourselves in the foot.”
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