Falcons vs. Ravens, Sunday night: Lamar is officially out, Huntley starts, and .500 is sitting in the Benz

The Ravens rolled into M&T Bank last Sunday as the AFC's scariest team and left it with a 24-18 win, a 3-1 record, and a two-time MVP in a protective boot. Lamar Jackson's left ankle sprain kept him out of the second half against Tennessee, he never practiced this week, and Friday evening Jesse Minter made it official: Jackson is out, and Tyler Huntley will start. The Falcons, suddenly and quietly, have a real path to .500 on Sunday Night Football at the Benz.

The guesswork is gone — Lamar is out, and Huntley is the plan

For three days this felt like a game of chicken, with Minter alternately framing Jackson as "not crazy long term" and refusing to say whether he'd play. Friday wiped the suspense away. Jackson missed every practice this week and is ruled out, and the Ravens are handing the offense to Huntley. The Falcons don't have to prepare for the reigning problem; they get the backup, confirmed, with two days of runway to game-plan for him.

The numbers behind the decision are the whole story. With Jackson, Baltimore is 79-32. Without him since 2019, the Ravens are 6-11. That's not a knock on Huntley — a 5-6 fill-in who has started 11 times and once nearly beat the Chiefs in a playoff game — it's just what a machine looks like when you pull its engine.

What this says about Baltimore's actual strength

Here's the catch and the honest warning: the Ravens are a good team behind Lamar too. Roquan Smith still patrols the middle, that defensive front is banged up but deep, and Derrick Henry has been the NFL's scariest downhill runner through a month. With Huntley under center, Baltimore's whole plan becomes Henry, the run game, and a short passing game built to keep Penix off the field. That's still a win-now football team — just a slower one, and one that needs a rookie-adjacent backup to beat you with his arm.

The Falcons' own injury list has a real wrinkle

Atlanta isn't arriving at this fight at full strength either. Left tackle Jake Matthews (groin) is questionable after a full practice Friday — notable because he's started an NFL-record 199 straight games, so keep an eye on his status when inactives drop. Edge Za'Darius Smith (concussion/neck) and Samson Ebukam (hamstring) are both questionable, which matters because the pass rush was already the unit everyone's been hedging on. Linebacker Divine Deablo (hamstring) is questionable too, and Yasir Abdullah (hamstring) is out. Thin in the trenches, but the matchup still tilts Atlanta's way.

The Falcons finally look like a run-first team that can handle it

Bijan Robinson leads the entire league in rushing, and the offense is humming precisely because it goes through him and the ground game — five rushing touchdowns Monday night in New Orleans, tied for a franchise record. Penix has won two straight and is playing clean. Against a compromised Baltimore team with Huntley in his first start of the season, that's the exact recipe: control the clock, keep it on the ground, and make Huntley beat you with his arm when the Falcons defense is fresh.

The division math is interesting too. A win puts Atlanta at 3-2, above .500 for the first time since last fall and dead-even in a suddenly winnable NFC South. The matchup — a backup quarterback, a gassed Ravens locker room, an 8:20 home kick — is about as favorable as Atlanta is going to get all year.

Bird Gang bottom line

Baltimore just handed Atlanta its softest matchup of the season, and it's sitting right in the Benz on Sunday night. The Falcons don't need to be perfect — they need Bijan to keep being the best back in football, Penix to play clean, and the pass rush to make Huntley uncomfortable. Pick the Falcons to cover and get to .500 this week on pickembaby.com, and let the group chat handle Lamar's limp.

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