The status of Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers for Saturday’s wild-card playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at M&T Bank Stadium remains uncertain.
Coach John Harbaugh said Monday that Baltimore’s leading pass catcher is “day to day” after suffering a right knee injury Saturday in the regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns. He declined to provide further specifics.
“It’s not a season-ending injury, so it’s just gonna be day to day,” he said. “Try to do everything he can do to get back as soon as he can and we’ll see where that takes us.”
Flowers suffered the injury early in the second quarter of Saturday’s win after Browns linebacker Mohamoud Diabate landed on his right knee following a 12-yard catch-and-run. He was helped to his feet by the training staff, limped to the sideline before going into the medical tent and eventually the locker room. He did not return.There were reports that Flowers, who underwent an MRI on Sunday, suffered a sprained knee, but Harbaugh declined to confirm if that was the case.
Losing the second-year receiver for even just one game would be a blow to what was the NFL’s No. 1 offense this season.
Flowers led the Ravens in catches (74) and yards (1,059) to go with four touchdowns. He was also the fastest player in team history to reach 100 career receptions, the first Baltimore wide receiver to top 1,000 yards in a season since Marquise “Hollywood” Brown in 2021, and became the organization’s first at the position to be selected to the Pro Bowl.
He had five 100-yard receiving games this season, the most recent coming in the Ravens’ Dec. 21 win over the Steelers in Baltimore when he had five catches for 100 yards, including one that went for 49 yards.
Flowers’ prominence in the passing game has been multi-faceted as well. His 463 yards after the catch rank 12th in the NFL and his 19 catches of 20-plus yards are the fourth most.
He has been quarterback Lamar Jackson’s top option with 116 targets, which is 44 more than receiver Rashod Bateman, 47 more than tight end Mark Andrews and accounts for 25.4% of the team’s targets.
If Flowers doesn’t play, Baltimore is thin behind him.
Bateman (45 catches, 756 yards, nine touchdowns) is having a career year, but the production and impact at wide receiver drops off significantly from there with Nelson Agholor, Tylan Wallace, rookie Devontez Walker and Steven Sims the only other receivers on the roster. Harbaugh said he is confident in Bateman stepping up but said others will need to as well.
“We have a lot of weapons,” Harbaugh said. “We can move guys around in different ways, scheme those guys up and they can all make plays.”
In other injury news for Baltimore, Harbaugh did say that running back Justice Hill, who missed the past two games because of a concussion and illness, and left guard Patrick Mekari, who has also been sick and played just six snaps Saturday, are “trending well” to play against the Steelers.
The return of cornerback Arthur Maulet, who appeared in just three games during the regular season and hasn’t played since Nov. 7 because of knee and calf injuries, however, is murky. Asked if the veteran would be available for the playoffs, Harbaugh said, “I don’t have a great handle on that right now.”
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