OTL: America, Meet Zay Flowers!

Happy Victory Monday, Flock! There’s only one other team in the entire NFL that’s gotten to celebrate as many Victory Mondays as we have (the 10-1 Philadelphia Eagles), and the Ravens hold the top seed in the AFC headed into their much-needed bye week. Last night wasn’t always pretty, but a 20-10 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers looks just fine in the rearview, doesn’t it?

Let’s recap the Sunday Night party, shall we?

First off, we had introductions. I’m not sure anyone will ever top Terrell Suggs’ “Ball So Hard University” – at least in the eyes of the only ones who matter, the Flock – but we had some new entrants yesterday evening as Lamar Jackson and Odell Beckham Jr. both got in on the game.

Lamar Jackson: Ball Till You Fall
OBJ: Himothy University pic.twitter.com/W1UjDRNjYi

— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) November 27, 2023

“Ball Till You Fall” combined with “Himothy University,” would be of course, a sister school to BSHU, right?

That out of the way, the Ravens set to work finding the end zone, which they did twice on the night, both times courtesy of Zay Flowers, who came prepared with celebrations.

After his first quarter touchdown, he broke out the flower bouquet again, this time with an entire wedding bouquet toss skit.

Lamar wasn’t rocking with Zay Flowers’ touchdown celebration… 😂😂pic.twitter.com/4vtRkfpvBj

— JPAFootball (@jasrifootball) November 27, 2023

As you can see above, his quarterback…was not impressed.

Lamar Jackson said Zay Flowers’ first TD celebration was “ass. the worst one i’ve ever seen.” pic.twitter.com/4aQF13O23U

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) November 27, 2023

As for John Simpson, the bouquet recipient (Congrats, John!), it was all news to him.

John Simpson didn’t know what to do after catching Zay Flowers’ bouquet.

“No one told me anything.” pic.twitter.com/P3Zw7ujszB

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) November 27, 2023

Flowers wasn’t done scoring, or celebrating, however. He had a 37-yard rushing touchdown to ice the game, and broke out a soccer penalty kick celly (or, something called a SIUUUUUU, apparently? I dunno, I’m old and also not a soccer fan. Google says it’s a Cristiano Ronaldo thing. So there ya go.)

Zay Flowers hit the SIUUUUUUUUU
pic.twitter.com/tc07PGVVht

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) November 27, 2023

Zay’s first touchdown celebration didn’t impress his quarterback, but it was the fact that he scored his second touchdown AT ALL that had his defense giving him the side-eye.

Kyle Hamilton deadpanned that the defense was a little "salty" when Zay Flowers scored late instead of going down near the goal line.

"We wanted to unstrap the pads."

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) November 27, 2023

I agree with Kyle on that one. I figured LA would zip down the field and kick a field goal and we’d have to sweat out another onside kick attempt. Fortunately, that didn’t come to pass.

So while Zay’s coming out party on national TV may have bugged his teammates a bit (no, not really), someone else took note.

Zay Flowers is Him

— Ty Hill (@cheetah) November 27, 2023

When you’re a wide receiver and Tyreek Hill is noticing you, you’re doing something right. As Nicholas Cage would say:

So with two weeks to rest up before they host the other LA team in Baltimore, your Baltimore Ravens are perched very nicely atop the standings.

The @Ravens have pushed near every button right: from Todd Monken at OC, drafting Flowers, paying @Lj_era8 & even turning down their bye after a London visit they wisely started early that week

They’ve lost only once since 🇬🇧 & hit their bye NOW as the only 9-win AFC team

🎯…

— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) November 27, 2023

We’ve seen marked improvements from Harbaugh teams following bye weeks in years past. While we were all a bit frustrated with the offense last night, let’s remember that they’d scored 30+ points in five straight games leading up to that bump in the road. With some rest and self-scouting, I’m excited to see what Todd Monken rolls out with in Week 14 and beyond.

For now, let’s enjoy the view from the top.