Zay Flowers' injury is no excuse for Lamar Jackson, Stephen A. Smith argues

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson will be without Zay Flowers this weekend in the AFC wild-card game. Flowers suffered a knee injury in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the Cleveland Browns.

On Friday's episode of ESPN's "First Take," Stephen A. Smith said Flowers' absence from Saturday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers shouldn't be an issue for Jackson. Smith said the Ravens offense still has plenty of weapons, including Jackson and running back Derrick Henry.

Flowers made an impact when the Ravens and Steelers met in Week 16. He had five catches for a team-leading 100 receiving yards.

[00:02:01] He better not struggle," Smith said. "I don't want to hear that. This is a two-time league MVP. That is all the world. And the Baltimore Ravens have resurrected themselves. They've captured the AFC North. ...

"We just forgot that Derrick Henry ran for nearly 2,000 yards that day himself. The man ran over 1,900 yards. You still got that, dude? Yeah. Zay Flowers might be a little bit hampered. Still got Mark Andrews. They still got Bateman. They got a couple of cats that we've seen. We've seen their defense elevate."

Jackson, a two-time NFL MVP with a 70-24 regular season record in his seven-year career, has just a 2-4 record in six playoff games.

Ravens QB Lamar Jackson received more All-Pro votes than Josh Allen

On Friday morning, the Associated Press announced the annual All-Pro team for the NFL season. For the third time in his career, Lamar Jackson was named to the All-Pro First Team.

NFL insider Tom Pelissero noted in a post on X that Jackson received 30 first-place votes and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen had 18. The Buffalo Bills quarterback has been seen as a top candidate for MVP this season. Pelissero predicted that Jackson could be en route to his third NFL MVP award if the AP vote is any indication.

In Week 17, Jackson broke Michael Vick's quarterback rushing record, and he now has 6,173 rushing yards in his career. Jackson is also the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 4,000 yards and rush for over 800 yards in a single season.