“I Was Hurt”: Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh Get Honest About Zay Flowers’ Knee Injury

The Baltimore Ravens clinched the AFC North with a 35-10 triumph over the Cleveland Browns on Saturday afternoon. Baltimore’s victory also locked Lamar Jackson and Co. into the AFC’s No. 3 seed for the postseason. Unfortunately, the Ravens also absorbed a loss in the game, as wide receiver Zay Flowers injured his knee in the second quarter.

Flowers did not return to the contest due to his ailment. Postgame, Jackson discussed how he felt when he saw Flowers leaving the field.

“I was hurt… we’re gonna see what happened come tomorrow when he gets his X-Ray [or] MRI.”

Jackson revealed he “said something brief” to Flowers in the locker room after the win, but didn’t “really get to speak to him.” Head coach John Harbaugh expressed a similar sentiment in his own press conference.

“I don’t have an update. It’s something that he has a chance to be okay with, but we’ll probably have more details after an MRI tomorrow morning.”

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported the early prognosis for Flowers’ injury as a sprain. However, there will be no official diagnosis until Flowers gets his MRI.

A sprain would be much better for Flowers and the Ravens than most alternatives. Rapoport indicated Flowers’ ailment is “not considered” to be major. However, he says there’s also a “real chance he misses next week”, which is when postseason play gets underway.

Baltimore’s offense would suffer dearly without Flowers in the wild-card round. The second-year receiver posted a team-best 74 receptions and 1,059 yards this season. He was named a Pro Bowler – making him the first Pro Bowl wideout in Ravens franchise history – on Thursday afternoon.

Baltimore needs Flowers to operate an efficient passing game accompanying a dominant rushing attack. The Ravens dominated an inferior Browns squad today once Flowers departed, but Jackson completed only 50% (16/32) of his passes.

If he produces similar numbers versus the Pittsburgh Steelers or Los Angeles Chargers next weekend, Baltimore’s postseason run could end before it even begins.