First Call: Zay Flowers update; Ravens preparing for Justin Fields to get snaps

Thursday’s “First Call” has an update on injured Baltimore receiver Zay Flowers as the Ravens get ready to host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday.

Baltimore is getting ready for both Steelers quarterbacks in the game. The national media spin about Mike Tomlin is in its usual January mode.

And we get ready for another round of Crosby-McDavid at PPG Paints Arena Thursday night.

Fields in focus

The Ravens are preparing as if Justin Fields is going to be part of the game plan for Saturday’s playoff game against the Steelers.

Baltimore defensive coordinator Zach Orr was asked if he was expecting the Steelers to utilize both quarterbacks in this upcoming game.

“I’m definitely expecting it. They won games with both of them,” Orr responded (via BaltimoreRavens.com). “Justin Fields is a weapon, you’ve got to be prepared for (him).”

Fields was inactive versus Baltimore in the most recent game between the clubs, when the Ravens won 31-17 in Maryland on Dec. 21. He had been injured the week before in Philadelphia.

In the first game between the teams, which the Steelers won 18-16, he ran twice for 17 yards, including a 9-yard scamper late in the contest. That was the play where Fields caught some heat for sliding short of the sticks. But the Steelers did pick up the third down to close out the game.

“He made some critical plays that we felt cost us the game,” Orr added. “We have to be prepared to see both of them. Not even just Justin as a runner, but also as a thrower. Because he is a quarterback, we prepare for both. The game plan doesn’t change for either one.”

Earlier this week, Fields said that he would be ready if called upon, even though he has had just two carries since Nov. 21.

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Greeny goes off

It’s a tale as old as time.

The Steelers collapse in December. People in Pittsburgh get mad. The national media defends Mike Tomlin.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

This week, ESPN’s Mike Greenberg, a key board member of the Tomlin Defense Foundation, spoke with his usual tone of dismissiveness when it comes to how Tomlin is perceived here as opposed to the rest of the country.

“Mike Tomlin has been the coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers for 18 years. He’s going to the Hall of Fame,” Greenberg said on “Get Up” this week. “I think it is inarguable that he has done an outstanding job there. There’s no greater discrepancy than there is between the way the national media people like us perceive Mike Tomlin and the way the local people in Pittsburgh perceive Mike Tomlin.”

Well, he’s right about the discrepancy part. But his comments suggest that his side of the discrepancy is the correct side and that Tomlin’s first four or five years of success before the 2011 playoffs make him beyond reproach 14 years later.

I humbly disagree.

If Baltimore beats the Steelers on Saturday, that’ll be 14 years out of 18 (and eight in a row) that the Steelers fail to win a playoff game under Tomlin. Most “outstanding” coaches don’t get that many opportunities to come up short before ownership moves on.

As much as that bothers me, I’m more angry at the fact that “people like” Greenberg refuse to acknowledge those facts and make “people like” me into being spoiled, close-minded and greedy.

If that puts me on the other side of Greenberg’s “discrepancy,” so be it.

No Zay yesterday

It continues to look like Zay Flowers will be out for Saturday’s playoff game between the Steelers and Ravens.

The wide receiver was unable to practice for a second straight day because of a bad knee. He was injured Saturday against the Cleveland Browns.

However, starting safety Kyle Hamilton was able to come back from his knee injury and participate fully after being limited Tuesday. Running back Justice Hill was upgraded after dealing with an illness and a concussion.

Wednesday's injury report pic.twitter.com/vsk7z46P3F

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) January 8, 2025

This season, Flowers leads the Ravens in targets (116), receptions (74) and yards (1,059).

On the Steelers’ side of things, Chris Boswell was absent from practice because of an illness, tight end MyCole Pruitt sat out with a bad knee, and Mason McCormick was limited due to his hand injury.

Two of the best

Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid square off Thursday night at PPG Paints Arena. They’ll do so under very different team circumstances.

McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers come to Pittsburgh in second place in the Pacific Division with 53 points. They have won 12 of 15 and four in a row.

Meanwhile, the Pens have lost four in a row and five of six.

The Oilers are always known for offense. They have the fourth most goals in the Western Conference with 132. But their defense has been good too. In each of those 12 wins, none of Edmonton’s opponents have scored more than three goals.

Goalie Stuart Skinner has been in net for most of the games. He is 16-8-3 with a goals-against average of 2.69 and a .902 save percentage.

It’s actually been Leon Draisaitl leading Edmonton in scoring. Not McDavid. Draisaitl has an NHL-leading 29 goals and 59 points (second in the NHL). McDavid has 16 goals and 55 points (sixth in the NHL).

Crosby tops the Pens in points with 44, 22nd in the NHL. Rickard Rakell leads the Pens in goals with 20, 11th in the league.