OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Head coach John Harbaugh said the Ravens are in “we’ll see mode” regarding the availability of Pro Bowl wide receiver Zay Flowers for their divisional round showdown at Buffalo this coming weekend.
Speaking at his weekly Monday news conference on Jan. 13, Harbaugh said Flowers is “working hard to get back, and we’ll see toward the end of the week if he’s practicing. And he can play without practicing for sure if he feels healthy enough and it’s safe for him.”
The third-seeded Ravens (13-5) travel to face the second-seeded Bills (14-4) on Sunday, Jan. 19, at 6:30 p.m. in a highly anticipated matchup of the two favorites for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Bills quarterback Josh Allen. The winner advances to the AFC championship game.
The Ravens pounded sixth-seeded Pittsburgh, 28-14, in a wild-card round game, while the Bills rolled past the seventh-seeded Denver Broncos, 31-7.
Flowers did not play in the win against the Steelers after suffering what is reported to be a sprained knee in the Ravens’ regular-season finale against Cleveland.
Flowers led the Ravens this season in catches (74), receiving yards (1,059) and targets (116) and scored four touchdowns. He became the first player in franchise history named to the Pro Bowl at wide receiver.
With Flowers sidelined, the Ravens unleashed a relentless ground game against a Pittsburgh defense that seemed incapable of stopping it. Derrick Henry ran 26 times for 186 yards and two scores, and Jackson added 81 yards on 15 carries. The Ravens finished with 50 carries for 299 yards, easily a franchise record for a postseason game. (The previous mark had been 236 vs. Tennessee in 2021.)
Through the air, Jackson completed 16 of 21 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Justice Hill and tight end Isaiah Likely were his top targets, with four each.
In the frosty air of Buffalo, regardless of Flowers’ availability the Ravens figure to once again lean on their top-ranked ground game. The Bills in the regular season ranked 17th in total defense and allowed 4.51 rushing yards per carry, which ranked 19th.
The teams met in Baltimore in Week 4, with the Ravens rolling to a 35-10 win. Henry ran for an 87-yard touchdown on the Ravens’ opening play from scrimmage and the team never trailed. The Ravens finished with 271 yards rushing in that game, averaging 8 yards a carry.
The Bills, though, were playing without two key defensive players in linebacker Matt Milano and cornerback Taron Johnson. Milano was on injured reserve at the time, and Johnson missed the game with a forearm injury. Both are back in the lineup now.
“They are experienced players,” Harbaugh said, noting that Johnson is “a DB, but he plays like a linebacker in there. … He’s out there in the apex. Boom, he’s in the B-gap before you blink an eye when playing the run. He does a great job, and those are great players.”
Johnson had the biggest play of the game when these teams met in the 2020 postseason. With the Ravens driving and trailing 10-3, Johnson intercepted Jackson in the end zone and returned it 101 yards for the game’s final touchdown in a 17-3 Bills win. Two plays later, Jackson suffered a concussion when his head hit the turf and he did not return to the game.
With their win over Pittsburgh last week, the Ravens have advanced to the divisional round for the second year in a row and the fourth time in the past six seasons.
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