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Baltimore is falling apart in real time, and Tuesday's trade deadline won't save them

The Ravens dropped a 33-10 Thursday night blowout to Jacksonville with an undrafted rookie at quarterback, making them losers of four straight and desperation buyers with four days until the NFL trade deadline.

Baltimore is falling apart in real time, and Tuesday's trade deadline won't save them

It rained in Baltimore on Thursday night. That was the most routine thing that happened at M&T Bank Stadium.

The Jacksonville Jaguars won 33-10, and it was not that close. The Ravens started an undrafted rookie quarterback, got run off their own field in front of 70,007 fans, and now sit at 4-5 with four consecutive losses and a desperate deadline looming. Four days. That's how long Baltimore has to try to stabilize a franchise that looked, on Thursday night, like it was actively coming undone.

The Jaguars routed Baltimore without its top two quarterbacks, Lamar Jackson and backup Tyler Huntley, forcing rookie Joe Fagnano into the starting role. Fagnano, undrafted out of Maine, completed 10 of 18 passes for 60 yards, threw two interceptions, and produced zero touchdowns. The Ravens managed only 10 first downs. They converted four of 14 third-down tries. By the time Jacksonville led 26-3 deep in the fourth quarter, large sections of the stadium had already emptied.

Trevor Lawrence opened the game with a 52-yard strike to tight end Nate Boerkircher, Jacksonville was in the end zone on its second drive, and the Ravens never answered. Bhayshul Tuten scored on a 1-yard run. Parker Washington caught a touchdown. Kicker Cam Little, who converted all four field goal attempts including a 47-yarder, did more damage than the entire Baltimore offense. It was Jacksonville's fourth win this season by 23 or more points. The Jaguars are 6-2 and believe, per their own postgame comments, that they can play better than this.

That detail stings if you're a Ravens fan.

Minter's first year has turned grim fast

First-year head coach Jesse Minter did not hide his frustration after the game. He had come in this winter replacing John Harbaugh and promising to maintain control of the defense while trusting young offensive coordinator Declan Doyle to run the other side. The plan made sense on paper.

What Minter said Thursday night after a game his team lost by 23 points with five pre-snap penalties: "In the second half, we just got in our own way. The results are not acceptable for us." Pre-snap penalties totaled four and were a major postgame talking point.

The four-game losing streak began with back-to-back collapses against Cleveland and Cincinnati with Tyler Huntley at quarterback. It has continued with Fagnano. The Ringer's NFL writers put Minter in what they're calling "the Glenn Zone," reserved for defensive-minded head coaches running a middle-of-the-road defense who fully depend on their OC hire to win important games. It is not a compliment. The Ravens have 11 days before their next game to figure out how deep the hole actually is.

The deadline arithmetic is brutal

Tuesday, November 10 at 4 p.m. Eastern. That is the NFL trade deadline, and Baltimore is reportedly set to acquire veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett from the Arizona Cardinals, a deal ESPN's Adam Schefter reported was expected to close this weekend. It is a reasonable desperation move. Brissett lost his starting job in Arizona to Gardner Minshew II but still ranks 24th among qualified quarterbacks by QBR. He is a game manager. He is what 4-5 teams get when their MVP goes down.

Meanwhile, the most dramatic deadline story in the league involves a team Baltimore has already played twice this year. The Indianapolis Colts are in the middle of a full rebuild fire sale. They have already shipped Quenton Nelson to Seattle for a third-round pick and a fifth-rounder, and DeForest Buckner back to San Francisco for a fourth. Jonathan Taylor is what's left, and the Colts have enough competing offers that they have not had to lower their asking price yet. Per ESPN's Dan Graziano: "The Colts are still asking for a lot for RB Jonathan Taylor and taking the stance that they don't need to move him."

The Colts have already been offered a package including a second-round pick and a later pick, and they want more. The Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants have been identified as frontrunners. A Denver Broncos report circulating Friday morning said a deal with the Broncos could come at any moment. Taylor himself told reporters he has not asked to be traded and met with Colts owner Carlie Irsay-Gordon this week to discuss his future. His wife posted on social media that her "mind is spiraling." Taylor has two years left on his contract after this season.

NFL insider Jordan Schultz reported that Indianapolis plans to wait until after Sunday's game against the Cowboys before revisiting offers, unless someone blows them away before then. That means the actual decision probably comes Monday or Tuesday, 72 hours from now.

Derrick Henry, meanwhile, addressed reports that he might be moved out of Baltimore before the deadline. His answer was direct. "I have not mentioned me going anywhere else," Henry said. "I'm saying let's go back to work, let's try to get better and turn this around." ESPN's Dan Graziano acknowledged a trade was not necessarily realistic but described Henry's situation as one worth monitoring. The Ravens still have eight games left. Henry still has legs. What they do not have, right now, is a quarterback, a winning record, or a margin for error.

They play next on November 17. By then, the trade deadline will be seven days gone, Brissett will presumably be in the building, and Baltimore will have had nearly two weeks to stare at a 4-5 record and ask itself how it got here this fast.

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WDCM Editorial
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WDCM Editorial is the byline on news and feature stories produced through Washington DC Magazine's editorial process — AI-assisted research, reviewed and approved by Editor-in-Chief Rod Wright.

EDITOR IN CHIEF: RODRIQUEZ WRIGHT II

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