OWINGS MILLS, Md. — A day after the Ravens lost 17-10 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, Baltimore rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers said he Already recovering from a devastating fumble near the goal line in the AFC Championship Game. fourth quarter.
“It was just a moment,” Flowers said. “It’s going to make or break you. I’m not going to let it break me.”
With Baltimore trailing 17-7 early in the fourth quarter, a wide-open Flowers caught a short pass from Lamar Jackson at the Chiefs 7-yard line and looked like he was going to score a touchdown to tie the game. A possession game.
But as three defenders converged on him inside the 5-yard line, Flowers lunged forward while extending the ball forward with both hands. Chiefs cornerback LaJarius Sneed knocked the ball away before Flowers could cross the goal line, resulting in Flowers’ first career fumble.
“We all make mistakes,” Jackson said. “This is his first season. This is my first time in this situation. This is his first time in this situation. We’re going to bounce back. No one has a perfect game.”
Flowers is the 22nd overall pick in the 2023 draft. He played the best rookie season for a wide receiver in team history. He set a Ravens rookie record with 77 catches for 858 yards.
Flowers was Baltimore’s only impactful receiver in the AFC Championship Game. He caught five passes for 115 yards and scored on a 30-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.
Flowers became the second Ravens rookie to reach 100 yards receiving in a game, joining Marquise Brown, who had 126 yards in 2020. Jackson averaged 14.4 yards per attempt when targeting Flowers and 5.8 yards per attempt when throwing to others.
“I feel like I’ve taken another step forward,” Flowers said. “I feel like I can be one of the best receivers in this league and I’m not going to let any one moment define me. So I’m just going to use it and use it as a slingshot.”
This is the second straight season that Baltimore has paid the price for a fumble close to the end zone.
In last year’s 24-17 wild-card loss at Cincinnati, quarterback Tyler Huntley fumbled for a touchdown at the Bengals 1-yard line to give the Ravens the lead. Instead, Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard caught the ball and returned it 98 yards for the game-winning score.
A year later, Flowers’ fumble at the Chiefs’ 1-yard line proved to be a critical error.
At the end of the game, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. hugged Flowers and offered words of encouragement. Beckham told him he was going to be a special player.
“Zay will always be a ‘little brother’ to me,” Beckham said. “Just being able to share that moment with him… was like, ‘Brother, you’re going to be straight.'” It was hard. Yeah, you’ve probably heard something about this, [but] The world is like this. That’s how they are.
“so, [I told him to] Keep your wits about you, like everyone else here. No one way of playing can define a game. There is still a lot of time left in the game.But you can learn from these moments and become a better person [and] A better player – [from] All these things. “
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