The Baltimore Ravens are gearing up for their first game at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, and they received a nice injury update on wide receiver Zay Flowers.
Flowers, who injured his hamstring in the Week 1 win over the Indianapolis Colts, returned to practice Friday after missing every practice that week.
Flowers Did Limited Work in the Media Viewing Period
The media only gets to see a little bit of practice before they have to close it to the public. ESPN’s Ravens reporter Jamison Hensley wrote that Flowers didn’t do much work during the portion of practice the media could see.
“While WR Zay Flowers (hamstring) and LT Ronnie Stanley (toe) returned to practice Friday, both did very little during the media viewing portion of practice,” Hensley wrote on X. “Flowers stood and spoke to teammates and coaches. He did not do any running during media viewing.”
Flowers had an impressive Week 1 in limited action, recording five receptions for 150 yards and one touchdown. The Ravens signed Flowers to a four-year, $140 million contract extension this offseason, and he showed the NFL world why Baltimore was willing to give him such a big deal. Quarterback Lamar Jackson believes that Flowers will break records this season.
“This year, I feel like he will have a monstrous year,” Jackson said in July on the “The Lounge” podcast, via Ravens wire Glenn Erby. “Hopefully a record-breaking year because, like I said, the work ethic. I’m going to speak on that all the time.”
Ravens Will Need Rashod Bateman to Set Up
Flowers isn’t the only wide receiver dealing with injury issues. Rookie wide receiver Ja’Kobi Lane suffered a fractured wrist during Week 1, which led the Ravens to place him on injured reserve.
Since Lane will miss at least four weeks, the Ravens will need another receiver to step up, and that could be Rashod Bateman.
Bateman has been with the Ravens since 2021 and has played in 65 games, recording 157 receptions for 2,147 yards and 15 touchdowns. He didn’t have the best Week 1, failing to record a reception on one target, but he is likely to have a big role in the offense with Lane out.
Even if Bateman doesn’t put up the best stats in the Ravens’ offense, he doesn’t care much, because he wants to win more than anything.
“I cannot be worrying about my stats,” Bateman said, via ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “I need to be worried about how we can win a Super Bowl. And at the end of the day, no matter if I have zero yards or 100 yards, we finished with a ‘W’ at the end of the day, I slept good at night because we won rather than lost a game and I had 150 yards.”
It will be interesting to see how the Ravens use Bateman in the offense now that Lane will miss a handful of games.
Ravens Receive Encouraging Injury Update on Zay Flowers Ahead of Week 2 vs. Saints