Ravens’ Zay Flowers Picks up an Injury and Won’t Play in the Wild Card Round
Baltimore’s Offense Will Be One Man Down vs. Pittsburgh Following News of Zay Flowers’ Injury
Ravens Dealt Huge Pre Wildcard Blow
Two days before their awaited postseason debut against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Baltimore Ravens, current ten-point betting odds favorites over at BetUS Sportsbook, were dealt with some injury-ridden news that could see their favoritism take a slight dip come Saturday afternoon.
According to NFL news around Ravens camp, Zay Flowers, Baltimore’s top wide receiver and Lamar Jackson’s favorite go-to weapon in his passing game, has officially been ruled out following a knee injury.
The decision to sideline Flowers was made and promptly announced by Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh, beating out NFL rumors sites from breaking the news beforehand, citing that while the receiver will not be able to play this weekend, it is expected for him to be up and ready to go as soon as next week, leading to the player potentially being able to suit up for a divisional round game.
Coach Harbaugh announces WR Zay Flowers will not play this weekend. pic.twitter.com/3Ky3jYGfHY
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) January 9, 2025
Harbaugh also made it a point to show the excitement and confidence he and the rest of his coaching staff have in all other available players as they prepare for what promises to be one of the most physical bouts in the first round of the postseason NFL schedule.
Last #Ravens practice before their wildcard game on Saturday is indoors. Everyone but Zay Flowers is present and accounted for. pic.twitter.com/Pp37tJx9T9
— Carita Parks (@CaritaCParks) January 9, 2025
Going into the game without Flowers, will Baltimore’s hefty and surprisingly high NFL odds to win this game be affected?
From Pro Bowl Nod to Missing Out Initial Playoff Game
Having played in all of Baltimore’s 17 regular season NFL games this season, tallying a total of 1,059 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 74 catches in 116 targets, when talking about the Ravens’ passing offense, Flowers was right there front and center leading the charge of an otherwise underwhelming receiver corps.
No Zay 💔 pic.twitter.com/mnrX8zqUCb
— PassRushDiary🦅 (@PassRushDiary) January 9, 2025
Sorry Ravens fans, but Rashod Bateman, Nelson Agholor, and Tylan Wallace are no Zay; not even put together and gelled into one. At least Jackson will still have star tight end Mark Andrews to rely on, especially considering how Andrews went from starting the season as an afterthought to his usual dominant self after the second half of the season.
So if the ravens don’t have zay flowers
Their Wr core is
Rashod Bateman
Nelson Algholor
Tylan wallace pic.twitter.com/OTBvL4relv— OgnBurgh (@scottiloss) January 8, 2025
But hey, lighten up Baltimore; things could definitely be worse. Imagine not having Lamar or Derrick Henry.
It Will Be Up to Jackson and Henry to Get the Job Done
Keeping up with the optimism, seriously Ravens fans, even without Flowers, still having Jackson and Henry leading the offense is enough of a flex to keep the team in your NFL picks and predictions ticket for the weekend.
Even if Pittsburgh brings their usual boom til doom style of defense, Jackson and Henry are still money. They’ve been all season long, and there’s no reason for them not to ball out once again this Saturday.
Records on records for Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry 😤🔥 pic.twitter.com/jz7wlkTUtH
— ESPN (@espn) January 5, 2025
At the end of the day, if there’s a player who’s been dying to get back to the playoffs and put on another stellar performance like back in 2019 with the Tennessee Titans, it’s Henry.
Remember when Derrick Henry put up 204 total yards and 1 TD on his birthday in the 2019 Wild Card? 👑 pic.twitter.com/fTHu5oYyFW
— NFL (@NFL) January 9, 2025
So even without Flowers, don’t sleep on Jackson, Henry, and company beating the snot out of Pittsburgh like they did back in week 15.
