Pick Your Poison!

“Pick your poison” is an idiom that means someone must choose from more than one undesirable option. In the case of the Ravens offense, there are several options.

If teams invest their defensive resources to stop Derrick Henry, that puts pressure on the DB’s to man-up and as we witnessed during yesterday’s game between the Ravens and Commanders, that spells opportunity for players like Mark Andrews, Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar and Rashod Bateman. It also opens things up for the Ravens most elusive player not named Lamar Jackson – Zay Flowers.

Zay offers a dynamic mix of speed, precise route running and uncommon change of direction skills. He can stop on a dime and accelerate in and out of his breaks. When facing man coverage, he’s a nightmare for even the NFL’s most accomplished corners, particularly when the Ravens employ play action.

The defense’s commitment to Henry coupled with Lamar’s ball handling skills gives the Ravens QB plenty of time to set, survey and deliver darts. And really, it’s not to unlike the one-on-one matchups during training camp when the quarterbacks are under no pressure and there’s no safety help. Those drills are heavily slanted towards offensive success. And yesterday, those practice field pretend games became reality during a beautiful Sunday in October. The result was 9 targets for Zay, 9 catches and 132 yards – all in the first half!

Zay Flowers with an early 46-yard gain!

: #WASvsBAL on CBS/Paramount+
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— NFL (@NFL) October 13, 2024

Going into the break, CBS’ Tracy Wolfson interviewed Commanders’ head coach Dan Quinn. During the exchange, Quinn said that they would need to adjust to slow down the Lamar-to-Zay pitch-and-catch connection. And they did. Flowers was shut out in the second half.

But in the Ravens offense, one man’s loss is another man’s gain.

Pulling resources away from the run defense to focus in on Flowers opened things up for Henry who had 94 of his 132 yards in the second half; Andrews had 53 of his 66 receiving yards after the break; Likely had all 27 of his receiving yards following the halftime adjustments.

Zay had no yards, no catches, no targets following intermission. But what he did in the first half, enabled the success of his teammates in the second. No complaints; no pouting; no lack of interest; just a focus on winning. It’s tough to label Zay Flowers as unsung given his star quality and performances. But what he did in the first half opened the door for others during the closing frames. It’s not unlike the Yankees Juan Soto seeing better pitches when he’s at bat because of the guy behind him – 6’ 7” Aaron Judge.

Given his physical stature compared to Judge’s, it might be difficult to wrap your mind around the analogy. Yet it’s true and on point. The other Ravens got “better pitches” because of the accomplishments of Zay.

Next week, that script might flip. The poison might be different.

But during Week 6, the Ravens unsung hero, the Jimmy’s Famous Seafood Big Crab Cake, is 5’9” Zay Flowers.

[Related Article: The Good, Bad & Ugly from the Ravens 30-23 Win v. Commanders]

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Come and see Zay live at Jimmy’s on Wednesday. Details here:

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