Lamar Jackson was back - for a play. Now his season might be done.
Starting for the first time in three games, the Ravens quarterback injured the thumb on his throwing hand on the first play of the game - a pass attempt in which he banged the digit into a defender's helmet. He left the contest and the injury will require surgery, coach Jesse Minter said after the game, and Jackson will go on injured reserve, potentially for the rest of the season. By going on IR at all, he will miss at least four games. "That's a tough deal," Minter said.
That was bad news, but not the only blow the Ravens took on Sunday. Then backup Tyler Huntley got hurt, too, and the Buffalo Bills beat the Baltimore Ravens 36-10 behind their healthy, effective quarterback, Josh Allen.
Allen completed 21 of 34 passes for 289 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, finding Dalton Kincaid for 86 yards and a score and DJ Moore for 82 yards and another. Allen also ran for a 1-yard touchdown on the game's opening scoring drive and the Bills never let Baltimore (4-4), losers of three straight, back into it.
James Cook III added 80 yards on 21 carries and a touchdown on the ground, while Moore also chipped in four carries for 4 yards. Baltimore's Joe Fagnano played most of the game at QB and finished 10 of 21 for 91 yards with an interception, three sacks, and a passer rating of 40.0.
Baltimore's offense managed just 91 passing yards all game and lost two fumbles — one from Fagnano and one from Huntley before he exited with a toe injury — compounding the turnover problems created by Fagnano's interception. "[Joe] hung in there," Minter said, "did some good stuff."
Derrick Henry provided Baltimore's lone touchdown on the ground, carrying 11 times for 53 yards, while Tyler Bass went a perfect 3 for 3 on field goals for Buffalo, including a long of 56.
On Jackson's injury - which was the story of the day and could be a pivotal moment for his career and the franchise, quite frankly, given Jackson's uncertain contract situation beyond this season - Minter said: "When it happened, at the time you're hoping that maybe it's something small, and pretty quickly [you] kind of realized what had happened." He didn't disclose the exact nature of the injury, nor Huntley's. The backup QB injured his toe.
"Snoop [Huntley] came in. Defensively, we did a few things in the first half to keep the game close," Minter said, "We were able to hang around, and then it was just tough to get consistency going after that first drive of the third quarter."
Baltimore doesn't have long to sulk, with a Thursday night game coming up against the Jacksonville Jaguars at M&T Bank Stadium.
"Things happen. It's how you respond. There's no testimony without a test," Minter said. "We'll do everything in our power to keep this thing going... with whoever is playing. If it's Joe [at quarterback], we got a lot of belief in Joe."