It's been a whirlwind last few days for Joe Fagnano. He has gone from undrafted third-stringer to the Baltimore Ravens' starting quarterback against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday Night Football. In doing so, he joined an exclusive list of undrafted rookies to do so on short rest.
As it turns out, though, Fagnano has been getting himself ready for just this moment, with a lot of help from his wife. As mentioned during the telecast on NFL on Prime, Fagnano's wife would go over plays with him at home and test him on different calls to keep him ready in the off chance he was called upon to play.
As fate would have it, with both Lamar Jackson and Tyler Huntley knocked out with injuries, that's exactly what has happened to Fagnano. After coming on against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, he's had just a few days to prepare for the first start of his career on Thursday night.
In fairness to the undrafted rookie, he has acquitted himself as well as could be expected through one half. He's completed seven of his 11 pass attempts for 30 yards. He also led the Ravens to a field goal in his opening drive.
However, the Ravens have still found themselves down a 17-3 hole to the Jaguars at halftime. Amid all the struggles the Ravens offense has had in the second half, even with Tyler Huntley at quarterback, Fagnano faces an uphill battle to overcome such a big deficit in his first career start.