It’s looking more and more likely that the Baltimore Ravens will be without star wide receiver Zay Flowers when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Flowers suffered a knee sprain in the Ravens Week 18 win over the Cleveland Browns, which has left his status for the start of the postseason up in the air.
On Monday, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh confirmed it is not a season-ending injury, but revealed it may be an uphill battle for Flowers to play this week.
“It’s not a season-ending injury,” Harbaugh said. “So it’s just going to be day-to-day, try to do everything he can do to get back as soon as he can and we’ll see where that takes us.”
If Flowers were to miss time, it would be a big blow to the NFL’s No. 1 offense. He is undoubtedly the Ravens No. 1 wide receiver as he leads the team with 74 catches for 1,059 yards.
Flowers has also had success against the Steelers this season with seven catches for 139 yards and a touchdown in the first two meetings.
However, the Ravens seem comfortable rolling with Rashod Bateman as their No. 1 wide receiver if need be. The former first round pick has battled injuries to begin his NFL career but has put together, by far, his best season yet with 45 catches for 756 yards and nine touchdowns.
“He’s always been high, high on my lists. I think he’s a tremendous player, tremendous athlete, tremendous competitor, excellent wide receiver, brings us a tremendous skillset. He’s been playing at a high level all year,” Harbaugh said. “I don’t think it’s just about one guy. It’s everybody. We have a lot of weapons.
Flowers’ potential absence shouldn’t affect the Steelers game plan too much, though. The Ravens top playmakers aren’t just limited to their wide receivers, as Harbaugh mentioned.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged just that on Monday.
“It’s about 8 (Lamar Jackson) and 22 (Derrick Henry) for us,” he said.
If Flower is inactive, it will allow the Steelers to focus even more of their attention on the Ravens dominant run attack.
Alan Saunders provided reporting from Pittsburgh.