Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers will not play in the wild-card round matchup this weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers because of his knee injury, head coach John Harbaugh confirmed on Jan. 9, costing the Ravens one of their top offensive playmakers for the biggest game of the season to date.
The third-seeded Ravens (12-5) host the sixth-seeded Steelers (10-7) at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m.
Flowers’ absence was expected given that he missed practice all week after suffering a right knee injury in the regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns on Jan. 4.
Flowers this year became the first Ravens player ever named to the Pro Bowl at the wide receiver position after leading the team in receptions (74), receiving yards (1,059) and targets (116). He also caught four touchdown passes and ran nine times for 56 yards.
Flowers had five catches for 100 yards in the Ravens’ 34-17 win against Pittsburgh three weeks ago. That was one of five 100-yard games this season for Flowers, tying the franchise mark for 100-yard receiving games in a season (Mark Andrews, 2021).
Flowers had two catches for 39 yards and a touchdown in the Week 11 game at Pittsburgh, won by the Steelers, 18-16.
This will be the first time that Flowers misses a game because of injury in his two-year career; his only other absence came in the regular-season finale last year when the Ravens opted to hold out several starters in advance of the playoffs.
Asked earlier in the week about the possibility of not having Flowers for the Steelers game, quarterback Lamar Jackson said, “Next guy up. … Other guys will step up, and we’re going to be ready to roll.”
Harbaugh earlier in the week said Flowers’ injury was not season-ending, and he said after practice Jan. 9 that Flowers is “locked in on his rehab.” If the Ravens beat the Steelers, the hope is that Flowers will be available for the Ravens’ divisional round game.
With Flowers out, the Ravens will turn to Rashod Bateman as the top wide receiver. He is coming off the most productive season of his career, with 45 catches for 756 yards and nine touchdowns, including one in the regular-season finale.
The Ravens also figure to lean on their tight-end duo of Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely. Andrews has set a franchise record with a touchdown catch in six straight games, and after a slow opening month of the season, he finished with 55 catches for 673 yards and a team-high 11 touchdown catches. Likely had 42 catches for 477 yards and six scores.
The Ravens thought they had acquired a backup plan for this type of scenario when they acquired Carolina and former Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson at the trade deadline. But Johnson’s stint with the team was short and tumultuous. He played in four games for the Ravens but was suspended by the team after he refused to enter a game and was released a week later. He totaled one catch for 6 yards with the Ravens.
The Ravens also figure to have Justice Hill back after he missed the past two games because of a concussion and an illness. Hill, the Ravens’ top pass-blocking back, leads Ravens running backs with 42 catches for 383 yards.
The Ravens of course will also lean on their No. 1-ranked ground game led by running back Derrick Henry (1,921 yards) and Jackson (915).
The Ravens this year became the first team in NFL history to record 4,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards in the same season.
This will be the fifth postseason game between the Ravens and Steelers, but the first held in Baltimore. The teams last met in the playoffs after the 2014 season, and the Steelers have won three of the previous four meetings.
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