The Pittsburgh Steelers finished the 2024 regular season on a four-game losing streak and are the coldest team to crack the playoffs this year. Because of this, it wasn't surprising to see Mike Tomlin's team as the biggest underdogs in the Wild Card round.
Pittsburgh is gearing up for a revenge game against the Ravens in Baltimore. When this same scenario played out in Week 16, the Steelers were pulverized in a 34-17 loss on the road. Fortunately, Tomlin found a way to split with the Ravens this season and divisional games are usually competitive.
Regardless, the Steelers opened the week as 8.5-point underdogs—a line that quickly moved to 9.5 points, courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook. The hope of an upset against the league's top offense with an MVP quarterback hangs by a thread, but luckily for Pittsburgh, it looks like the Steelers are about to catch a major break.
On January 6, NFL Insider Ian Rapoport reported that Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh called Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers 'day-to-day' with a knee injury. Harbaugh also stated that Flowers playing on Saturday 'will be a challenge this week', but suiting up in the Divisional Round is possible.
#Ravens coach John Harbaugh calls WR Zay Flowers "day-to-day" and clarifies that the injury is not season-ending. Sounds like it will be a challenge this week. But after that... possible. https://t.co/bDFobzK7cn
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 6, 2025
While the Ravens have not officially ruled out their top wide receiver against the Steelers in the Wild Card round, Harbaugh's words make Flowers doubtful at best for Saturday's playoff game. This is a huge break for the Steelers.
Steelers must capitalize on expected Zay Flowers absence
We never root for players to go down and can be glad that Zay Flowers didn't suffer a serious knee injury. But no Steelers fan will mind if the electrifying wideout can't suit up this week for Baltimore.
Though the Steelers held Flowers in check during their Week 11 home win, the twitchy receiver went off for 100 yards on eight targets in their most recent-head-to-head matchup in Baltimore in Week 16. At 5'9 1/4'' and 182 pounds, Flowers is an undersized receiver, but he makes up for his small catch radius with a natural ability to create effortless separation and put defenders on rollerskates after the catch.
If Flowers can't go this week, the Steelers would have one less thing to worry about against the league's top-ranked offense that averaged 424.9 yards per game and 30.5 points per game in 2024. Of course, finding a way to slow down a lethal combination of quarterback Lamar Jackson and running back Derrick Henry would be daunting enough.
Without Flowers, the Steelers could be more willing to sell out to stop the run and force wide receivers Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor to make plays against Pittsburgh's secondary. We'll take our chances with these two having big games if it means stopping the most dangerous options on the team.
In a perfect world, we would love to see the Steelers defeat the Ravens on the road at full strength. But if Flowers can't go, Pittsburgh will be handed a gift and they must find a way to take advantage of their biggest AFC North rival without their top receiving option.