OWINGS MILLS — The Ravens’ wide receivers had a quiet game against the Kansas City Chiefs in the regular-season opener.
Zay Flowers led the wideouts with six receptions on 10 targets for 37 yards (6.2 yards per catch).
Rashod Bateman was only targeted twice but he had an explosive play for 38 and another 15-yard catch.
Nelson Agholor was the only other wide receiver involved with one catch for 6 yards in the 27-20 loss to Kansas City.
“We beat ourselves,” Bateman said. “We didn’t execute our game plan that we had. We weren’t successful on the plays that we needed to be successful on.”
There were questions about the wide receivers entering the season because none has yet to eclipse 1,000 yards receiving in a season. Their production in the opening game created more uncertainty.
Flowers, the 22nd overall pick in the 2023 draft, led the team with 77 receptions for 858 yards and five touchdowns as a rookie last season. He is expected to make more strides this season.
The Chiefs were determined to prevent him from gaining yards after the catch and they were successful with the game plan.
Bateman is expected to help the Ravens stretch the field and he flashed that potential with the leaping, fingertip 38-yard catch downfield in the fourth quarter that set up the potential game-winning play.
Later in that drive, quarterback Lamar Jackson threw a 10-yard pass to tight end Isaiah Likely in the back of the end zone as time expired that would have pulled the Ravens to within one point. After a review, the officials ruled that Likely’s toe was on the line. Before that, Jackson missed on passes to an open Likely and a wide-open Flowers in the end zone.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh indicated the team would have attempted a two-point conversion to win the game if Likely’s reception would have been ruled in-bounds.
Jackson explained the errant pass for Flowers in the middle of the end zone.
“I saw Bateman flying across, so I’m thinking [that] Bateman was going to stop, and as I’m throwing the ball, I see Zay [Flowers] flying across,” Jackson said. “I’m like … That wasn’t intended for Zay Flowers. I was ticked off about that because if I held onto it a bit more, I would’ve just fired it to Zay for the touchdown.”
Likely got most of the work with nine catches on 12 targets for 111 yards and a 49-yard touchdown. Fellow tight end Mark Andrews was only targeted twice, but he was on the field for 59 snaps (75 percent of the offense), taking attention away from Likely.
Part of the problem getting the ball to the wideouts was the Chiefs’ constant pressure on Jackson, who didn’t have much time to throw.
Jackson will look to get the wide receiver more involved against the Las Vegas Raiders, who allowed 144 yards through the air in a 22-10 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
