Zay Flowers, Ravens cannot overcome multitude of mistakes in loss to Kansas City in AFC title game
Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers (4) falls as he fumbles into the end zone for a touchback against Kansas City during the second half of the AFC Championship NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in Baltimore. Credit: AP/Nick Wass
BALTIMORE — Zay Flowers came about as close as one can to becoming a postseason hero before falling backward and landing at the other end of the spectrum.
The Ravens’ rookie receiver caught five passes for 115 yards and a score and had the ball inches from the goal line in the fourth quarter on a play that could have altered the outcome of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against Kansas City. But then an avalanche of mistakes doomed Flowers and his team to a 17-10 loss.
His were some of the more glaring gaffes that the Ravens committed, but there was a teamwide collapse of composure and fundamentals — including by presumptive MVP Lamar Jackson — that knocked them out of the playoffs after earning the top seed in the conference.
On a day the Ravens thought they would be wearing crowns, they wound up playing like jesters. Despite scoring zero points in the second half, Kansas City will face the 49ers in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on Feb. 11.
“We had some opportunities out there,” Jackson said. “Just have to take advantage of them. Can’t turn the ball over. Fumble, interception. Stuff like that. It gave them an opportunity to put points on the board and win the game. We have to execute. We scored one TD. That’s not like us.”
Flowers personified that.
His narrative slide began, oddly enough, with his biggest play of the second half. He was wide open down the left sideline and caught a 54-yard pass from Jackson late in the third quarter to bring the ball to the 10 with the Ravens trailing 17-7. Upon getting to his feet, though, he shoved cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. That might not have been enough to draw a taunting penalty, but spiking the football at the defender certainly was. The flag pushed the Ravens back to the 25.
They still had the ball with plenty of time and were well within scoring distance. Flowers even caught a 14-yard pass to bring Baltimore to the 11.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Jackson threw a completion over the middle to Flowers, who headed toward the end zone. He dived to reach the goal line just as Sneed — the player he had taunted — arrived and punched the ball loose. Flowers’ fumble fell into the end zone, where it was recovered by Trent McDuffie for a touchback.
Opportunity failed.
Even worse, Flowers went to the sideline and sliced open his left hand while slamming it against the bench. He was able to return to the field but caught only one pass the rest of the day.
The Ravens still managed to stay in it, got the ball back with 10:35 left and drove to the 25. That’s when Jackson threw a pass into triple coverage in the end zone for Isaiah Likely that was intercepted by Deon Bush. It was the second fourth-quarter turnover by the Ravens in the Kansas City end zone.
Pair those with some untimely penalties — roughing the passer against Jadeveon Clowney, holding on John Simpson and, most glaring, 12 men on the field for a play coming out of a timeout — along with the busted coverage that yielded a 33-yard pass by KC on third-and-9 before the two-minute warning to seal it, and the team that spent most of the second half of the season looking like the best in the NFL unraveled.
“It’s never about the other side. It’s about us,” Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith said. “It’s definitely very frustrating, having them in a position you want them in and being unable to capitalize on that as a defense. Hats off to those guys for being able to get the job done.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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