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Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff Writer
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — A day after the Ravens‘ 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, Baltimore rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers said he has already moved on from his devastating fumble near the goal line in the fourth quarter.
“It’s just a moment,” Flowers said. “It is going to make or break you. I don’t plan on letting it break me.”
With Baltimore trailing 17-7 at the start of the fourth quarter, a wide-open Flowers caught a short pass from Lamar Jackson at the Chiefs’ 7-yard line and it looked as if he was going to score a touchdown to make it a one-possession game.
But, as three defenders converged on him inside the 5-yard line, Flowers dove forward while extending the ball forward with both hands. Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed then punched the ball out before Flowers crossed the plane of the goal line, causing Flowers to fumble for the first time in his career.
“We all make mistakes,” Jackson said. “It’s his first season. It’s my first time in this situation. It’s his first time in this situation. We’re going to bounce back. Nobody played the game perfect.”
Flowers, who was the No. 22 pick of the 2023 draft, had the best rookie season for a wide receiver in team history. He set Ravens rookie records with 77 receptions for 858 yards.
In the AFC Championship Game, Flowers was the only impactful wide receiver for Baltimore. 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 with 100 yards receiving in a game, joining Marquise Brown, who had 126 yards receiving in 2020. Jackson averaged 14.4 yards per attempt while targeting Flowers and 5.8 yards per attempt when throwing to everyone else.
“I feel like I got another step,” Flowers said. “I feel like I could be one of the best receivers in this league, and I’m not going to let one moment define me. So I’m going to just use that and use it as a slingshot.”
This is the second straight season in which a fumble close to the end zone has cost Baltimore.
In last year’s 24-17 wild-card loss in Cincinnati, quarterback Tyler Huntley fumbled at the Bengals’ 1-yard line on what would have been the go-ahead touchdown for the Ravens. Instead, Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard picked up the ball and returned it 98 yards for the winning score.
A year later, Flowers’ fumble at the Chiefs’ 1-yard line proved to be the pivotal mistake.
As the game ended, wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. hugged Flowers and offered words of encouragement. Beckham told him that he’s going to be a special player.
“Zay is forever ‘Little Bro’ to me,” Beckham said. “Just being able to share that moment with him … Like, ‘Bro you’re going to be straight.’ It’s tough. Yes, you may hear something about this, [but] it’s just the way that the world is. That’s how they’re going to be.
“So, [I told him to] just keep his head, just like everybody else in here. There is no one play that defines a game. There was still a lot of football that was left in the game. But these moments you’ll be able to learn from and become a better man [and] a better player — [from] all of those things.”