Lamar Jackson Needs Thumb Surgery and Heads to Injured Reserve After Ravens' Loss to Bills

By The Arena Staff

BALTIMORE, Nov. 1, 2026 — The Baltimore Ravens' afternoon went wrong on the very first snap, and it may have cost them their quarterback for much of the season.

Lamar Jackson injured his right thumb when his hand struck Buffalo pass rusher Gregory Rousseau as he threw to Zay Flowers on Baltimore's opening play. He did not return, and the Bills rolled to a 36-10 win. Jackson will need surgery and is going on injured reserve, which means he will miss at least four games.

Asked whether the injury could end Jackson's season, coach Jesse Minter said "potentially," according to the team's website. He told reporters "we'll see" when pressed on a timeline, NFL.com reported. "It's tough," Minter said. "When it happened, I think at the time, you're just hoping that maybe it's something small, and then I think pretty quickly kind of realized what had happened."

The timing is cruel for Jackson, who had already missed three games this season with an ankle injury. He came back to the sideline in the third quarter with a cast on his hand.

Things got worse from there. Backup Tyler Huntley went 2 of 4 for zero yards before leaving with a toe injury that ESPN's Adam Schefter reported is believed to be turf toe, with an MRI scheduled for Monday. That left undrafted rookie Joe Fagnano to make his NFL debut. He finished 10 of 21 for 91 yards with an interception and a lost fumble as Baltimore managed only 144 net yards. Flowers was held without a catch for the first time in his career. "I want him to play, so I was upset," Flowers said of Jackson.

Right tackle Roger Rosengarten took the opening play personally. "One hand away," he said. "Got to get more space away from Lamar, especially on the first one. That one is definitely eating at me." Tight end Mark Andrews pointed to the calendar. "We have a game in four days, so we have to be able to bounce back," he said.

The Ravens are 4-4 after their third straight loss, and the turnaround is short. They host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday Night Football at 8:15 p.m. ET, with no clear answer yet on who will start at quarterback.

Sources: NFL.com and BaltimoreRavens.com.