It seemed things couldn’t get much worse for Zay Flowers after this miserable drive. Then he got to the bench.
After getting flagged for a taunting penalty to wipe out a chunk of a 54-yard gain and losing a fumble on a dive toward the end zone, the Ravens’ rookie receiver cut his finger slamming his hand on the bench in frustration, CBS’ Evan Washburn reported on the AFC Championship broadcast.
The Ravens ended up losing 17-10, with the Chiefs advancing to Super Bowl 2024.
When the Ravens took over after a Chiefs punt late in the third quarter trailing 17-7, Baltimore started the drive with a 54-yard connection between Lamar Jackson and Flowers, who pushed Chiefs corner L’Jarius Sneed as he was getting up and then flung the ball at him, resulting in the 15-yard taunting penalty that pushed Baltimore back to the Kansas City 25-yard line.
Four plays later, Jackson found Flowers for the third time on the drive, and as Flowers dove toward the end zone to try to score, the ball was knocked out by Snead and recovered in the end zone by Chiefs corner Trent McDuffie for a touchback.
Zay Flowers on the Ravens sideline after cutting his finger. CBSThat crushing turnover ruined the Ravens’ chance at cutting their deficit to three.
Flowers then made matters worse by cutting his finger.
The 23-year-old scored a 30-yard touchdown in the first quarter Sunday and finished the game with five catches for 115 yards.
Ravens receiver Zay Flowers (4) was flagged for taunting Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Snead (38). Getty Images
Ravens receiver Zay Flowers (4) fumbles in the end zone, resulting in a touchback. APFlowers, the No. 22 overall pick in 2023 out of Boston College, had 77 catches for 858 yards and five touchdowns in his first NFL season.
Last week in Baltimore’s divisional-round win over the Texans, Flowers had four catches for 41 yards.
