Zay Flowers cooked the Washington Commanders last summer over a couple days of joint training camp practices. He picked up where he left off in the real thing Sunday afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium.
Flowers posted all nine of his catches for 132 yards in the first half as the Ravens defeated the Commanders, 30-23.
Flowers' nine catches are the most any Ravens receiver has ever posted in the first half of a game. His 132 receiving yards are the fourth-most in the first half of a Ravens game, trailing only WRs Derrick Alexander's 166 (1996 vs. Pittsburgh), Marquise Brown's 147 (2019 at Miami) and Torrey Smith's 144 (2011 at St. Louis).
"It's those guys. It's 'L' (Lamar Jackson); it's Derrick [Henry]; it's 'Bate' (Rashod Bateman)," Flowers said. "You have to respect all of us, so they're helping me get open.
"Rashod Bateman is doing a great job of making his plays when they're coming his way. Mark Andrews is getting better and better every week. Everybody knows Isaiah [Likely] is going to do what he [does]. So, it's just all the guys around me that help me get open and help me do what I do."
Flowers has heated up the past two weeks. He had seven catches and set a then-career-high 111 yards last week in Cincinnati.
Flowers now has three career games with at least 100 receiving yards, marking the third most by a Raven within their first two NFL seasons, trailing WRs Mark Clayton (five from 2005-06) and Smith (four from 2011-12).
"[Zay Flowers is] exactly the weapon we absolutely knew he was and would be and has been, to be honest with you," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "He's been there all along, and the opportunities came up today. Sometimes the defense doesn't allow it. Sometimes the ball doesn't come your way for whatever reason, but today the opportunities showed up."
Flowers has had some quiet games this season when the Ravens were run-heavy. He had three catches for 20 yards against the Cowboys and one catch for 10 yards versus the Bills. He wasn't even targeted in the second half of Sunday's win against the Commanders.
It's going to come and go for Flowers with such a rushing attack and surrounded by so many weapons. But the young wide receiver is making the most of his opportunities.
"[With] Derrick Henry, you have to feed him the ball," Flowers said. "No matter what, no matter who you have a receiver, no matter who you have a tight end, you've got to get that man the ball. So, I just wanted to wait, just wait, and I knew he was going to open it up for us; now, we're able to do both – run and pass."
Flowers said last year's joint practices didn't really factor into his mindset much Sunday. But it did give him a bit of a leg up.
"I knew what they do [and] what they did – what type of man [coverage] they ran [and] what type of zones," Flowers said. "I was able to get a feel for them from that – from joint practices – and [was] able to run my routes off that, so it helped a little."
