Zay Flowers’ availability not looking good for Wild Card matchup between Ravens and Steelers.
Flowers injured his knee in Week 18’s regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns. He did not participate in Tuesday’s practice, per Tom Pelissero on X, formerly Twitter. In Year 2, Flowers has turned in his first 1,000-yard season, and led the team with 74 catches on 116 targets.
It’s not going to be an easy feat for the Ravens without their star route-runner, but head coach John Harbaugh is determined that they can still get the job done against the Steelers.
Are the Ravens in trouble without Zay Flowers against Steelers?
Behind Flowers, the Ravens will look to Rashod Bateman, who is coming off a five-catch, 76-yard outing against the Browns. The offense will likely lean a lot more on the dangerous rushing wheels of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry, but will also be aided by other wideouts Nelson Agholor and Tylan Wallace in the passing attack.
Harbaugh acknowledged just what a blow it is to the offense, and to the entire team potentially not having Flowers in the lineup this week. But he also knows that they built well enough to handle these misfortunes.
“I think he’s a tremendous player, tremendous athlete, tremendous competitor, excellent wide receiver,” Harbaugh said of Bateman, per ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “[He] brings a tremendous skill set to it. He’s been playing at a high level all year, made big plays for us in that game this past week.”
Harbaugh added: “And not just Rashod. I don’t think it’s just about one guy. It is everybody. We have a lot of weapons. We can move guys around different ways, scheme those guys up, and they can all make plays.”
The Ravens have adversity to overcome in what will be a daunting matchup against Pittsburgh, but they still believe in their resilience as a team, with the right leaders guiding their way back to the AFC title.
