OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Lamar Jackson's injuries are sometimes shrouded in uncertainty. Not this one.
The two-time MVP hurt his thumb in Sunday's 36-10 loss to Buffalo, and coach Jesse Minter has already said he's headed to injured reserve. Minter said Monday night that Jackson had not yet had surgery, but he'll clearly be out for a while, and the Ravens are left staring into the abyss.
“I think the message is, we're going to play. We've got a bunch of guys that are really, really good football players, that are capable of playing,” Minter said. “The formula that you feel playing a game may change a little bit, of how you need to win.”
Jackson's injury might have more existential repercussions for this era of Ravens football. He has only one year left on his contract, with a huge expected cap hit, and this is the fourth time in the last six seasons he's been significantly limited by injuries. He was just coming back from a three-game absence due to a sprained ankle, and on Baltimore's first offensive play against the Bills, Jackson's hand struck a pass rusher on his follow-through.
Who knows what Jackson's future in Baltimore might look like once he's healthy. For now, the Ravens face an uphill climb for at least the next few weeks.
“When you lose a guy like Lamar, it's a little bit of every phase doing a little bit more,” Minter said. “It's being able to play really good defense, being able to maybe make a play or steal a play on special teams, maybe a different style of offense.”
Not much, but the four wins the Ravens (4-4) banked early in the season still count, so as of now they're only a game out of a playoff spot.
The quarterback position, obviously. Baltimore didn't just lose Jackson against Buffalo. Backup Tyler Huntley left with a toe injury, and the Ravens had to turn to Joe Fagnano in his NFL debut. And even Fagnano was listed as limited Monday with an ankle issue.
Baltimore signed quarterback Austin Reed to the practice squad.
This is just about the worst possible week for the Ravens to have this much uncertainty at quarterback. They host Jacksonville on Thursday night, so even if they could swing a trade for a veteran at the position, there wouldn't be much time to get him up to speed.
Running back Justice Hill led the Ravens with four receptions and was apparently the emergency quarterback if Jackson, Huntley and Fagnano had all been unable to continue.
“I’m blessed that they’re looking at me in a position to lead the team if all else fails, which it almost did,” Hill said after the game. “Hey, I’m ready for anything.”
Zay Flowers is having a terrific season but had no catches on five targets Sunday.
Kicker Tyler Loop (groin) might be headed to IR, Minter said.
Rookie guard Vega Ioane was inactive Sunday with a knee injury. He was listed as limited Monday.
“If I was ready to go last Sunday, I would have gone, but I didn’t want to go out there and be a liability to the team. But I feel confident now,” Ioane said. “See how practice feels tomorrow, and if I’m ready to go, then I’m ready to go.”
Jackson has only played 17 games in a season once, in 2024. But he's never played fewer than 12, which is what's on tap this season.
The Ravens host the Jaguars, who are coming off a 42-7 rout of Indianapolis. Jacksonville (5-2) already has a three-game lead in the AFC South.
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) leaves the field after an apparent injury in the first half against the Buffalo Bills during an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) looks on from the sidelines in the second half against the Buffalo Bills during an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, left, makes contact with Buffalo Bills linebacker Greg Rousseau as he passes in the first quarter of an NFL football game in Orchard Park, N.Y., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, and leaves the game with an injury to his thumb. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A business jet that crashed in Florida and killed all nine people aboard, including a family with two young children, likely started breaking apart before it slammed into the ground and erupted in a fireball, a federal investigator said Monday.
The jet did a steep nosedive, leaving behind a crater and a wide debris field as rain pounded the area. Authorities said weather will be a key initial focus of the investigation, and that the National Transportation Safety Board will also examine the actions of the crew and look for any mechanical problems with the plane.
The plane burst into flames when it crashed in Greenacres, about 7 miles (11 kilometers) southwest of West Palm Beach. Thick black smoke engulfed the crash site and little remained of the plane.
The victims included the 20-year-old co-pilot, Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, who made the final radio transmissions, as well as technology entrepreneur Adam Robinson, his wife, Helen Sharp, and their two young children, relatives said.
About 600 nearby residents remain displaced, but only one injury was reported on the ground.
National Transportation Safety Board member Tom Chapman said during a news conference Monday that investigators found evidence the aircraft started breaking up before it hit the ground and that debris from the aircraft could be spread far and wide.
“We may find parts of the aircraft some distance away from the actual impact site," Chapman said.
Jeff Guzzetti, a former investigator for the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration, said key components of the jet's tail may have been lost during the turbulence or as it nose-dived, making the plane impossible to control.
“That very well could explain the missile-like profile just before it hit the ground," he said.
Weather conditions will be a major focus of the investigation, Chapman said. Rain pounded the region on Sunday, and one of the pilots told air traffic control about icing conditions at a high altitude.
The pilots were warned by controllers about the looming storms as they crossed into Florida, and the FAA published an official warning about the weather earlier. AccuWeather said the tops of some of the storm clouds reached all the way up to 45,000 feet, making it difficult for planes to fly over the top. AccuWeather's Dan DePodwin said that the weather radars on planes have limitations and can't always show updrafts that can develop even more precipitation.
Chapman said investigators still have to determine what the weather conditions were at 35,000 feet (11,000 meters), the altitude the plane was flying at when the pilot started reporting problems.
Retired airline pilot John Cox, who is now CEO of the Safety Operating Systems consulting business, said the conditions the pilot described on the radio, with significant turbulence as well as liquid precipitation freezing on the plane at negative 47 degrees Celsius (minus 52.6 degrees Fahrenheit), would have terrified him.
Typically, precipitation at that altitude and temperature comes in the form of ice crystals that simply go around the plane, he said.
“Those are all really big red flags to me," he said. The question is why the plane flew into that line of storms at that altitude instead of either flying around the storm system or trying to cruise over the top of it, Cox said.
Chapman said the plane was originally equipped with a cockpit voice recorder that investigators hope to recover. But the heavy rain in Florida is making investigators' work difficult as the crater the plane left behind is filled with rainwater.
“This will be a several-day process, and the biggest obstacle that we’re going to have is recovering the major wreckage from the impacted crater on the roadway," NTSB investigator Timothy Monville said at the news conference.
The jet, which took off from Austin, Texas, had been in the air for almost 2 hours and 45 minutes before crashing in Florida, Chapman said.
Camila Corteleti told the New York Post and New York Times that her daughter, 20-year-old Nathalia Gadelha Filgueiras, was one of the pilots. She earned her pilot’s license in 2023 while a 17-year-old senior at West Boca Raton Community High School in Florida, local news reports said at the time.
Her pilot’s license showed she had the rating to fly that model of Learjet but not to be in command of the flight. The iconic Learjet is one of the most popular business jets ever made. Chapman said he doesn't know of any history of similar problems with these planes.
Her father, Allan Filgueiras, told The Associated Press he wasn’t prepared to speak about the crash.
The identity of the other pilot was not immediately disclosed.
A man who was driving close to the scene as the plane crashed suffered leg wounds, investigators said, but they weren't sure the extent of the injury.
The plane was heading east when the pilot started to report problems. According to air traffic control recordings captured by LiveATC.net, the 20-year-old Gadelha Filgueiras said ice was accumulating on the jet and that turbulence was jolting it by as much as 700 feet (210 meters).
“We have light, clear ice that is manageable and moderate turbulence,” the pilot told controllers in a professional tone.
The situation rapidly deteriorated and within a few transmissions panic set in as the crew realized their fate.
The pilot requested permission to climb another 2,000 feet (610 meters) and then quickly declared an emergency as the jet lost altitude at an alarming rate.
“We’re descending 8,000 — mayday, mayday — we’re descending 10,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed.
“We are in an overspeed condition descending 20,000 feet per minute,” the pilot radioed. Moments later, the pilot said: “We’re going to crash into the ground.”
Video shows the plane banking sharply to the right before crashing and exploding.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Joel G. Flores said at a news conference that the county “doesn’t have a clue” when residents who live near the crash site will be able to return to their homes as investigators continue to comb the area for debris and other material that could be used to investigate the cause of the crash.
A shelter has been established for the residents of almost 80 mobile homes near the crash site, Flores said.
“Our concern right now is clearing the scene so that our residents can get back to normal,” he said. “We don’t really have a timeline as to when they are going to be able to comb through all the evidence and do everything they need to do, and that leaves our community looking for answers.”
Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California; Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; and Philip Marcelo in East Meadow, New York, contributed.
This story has been corrected to show the crash happened in Greenacres, not Green Acres.
This image taken from Aki Kuusisto's video shows a small jet crashing in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (Aki Kuusisto via AP)
Police stand near the scene of a plane crash in Greenacres, Fla., Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Police work near the scene of a plane crash in Greenacres, Fla., Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Law enforcement respond to a plane crash in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Elias)
Law enforcement respond to a plane crash in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Elias)
Law enforcement respond to a plane crash in Palm Beach County, Fla., on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Elias)
