Why Zay Flowers NFL playoff debut was so impressive for Baltimore Ravens

Zay Flowers made his NFL playoffs debut for the Baltimore Ravens. If fans did not already have a high opinion of Flowers after is rookie year, that opinion had to grow in his NFL playoff debut. Sure, he only had four catches for 41 yards, so this is not like a situation where he set the world on fire and made a statement of who is and what he can do. However, he did exactly what the Ravens needed him to do.

The Baltimore Ravens saw Zay Flowers draw strong coverage and still produce

He was seeing Derek Stingley travel with him for the majority of the game. That is not only the Houstob Texans best defender, he has been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL since week 10. So, not only was it going to be a step up into the playoff feel, he also drew the toughest assignment of the game. 

Flowers did his job. He not only had four key catches, three of them moved the chains for first down. He had a key catch late in the game to put things away and an early catch on the first scoring drive of the game. 

Better than that, none of his catches were screen passes after he was so reliant on them earlier in the season. It was exactly what the team needed from him. 

By Flowers being able to not only draw coverage from Stingley, but beat him at times, it was able to open things up for the rest of the offense. The Texans wanted to shift coverages away from that matchup but could not.

Rashod Bateman and Isaiah Likely joined Flowers with more than 30 yards, while Likely and Nelson Agholor had touchdowns. Overall, eight players caught passes as the offense was finally opened up. 

You cannot discount how much value Flowers had in opening the offense for the Baltimore Ravens. Along with leading the team in yards in his first start in the playoffs, this is a sign that the future is bright for Flowers.