Lamar Jackson had a nice game to open the 2024 season on Thursday, but he will be kicking himself over one massive whiff late in the contest.
Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens lost 27-20 to the Kansas City Chiefs to start their season. The former MVP Jackson led the Ravens on a 77-yard drive late to very nearly tie the game. But on the penultimate play of the contest, Jackson completely missed a wide-open Zay Flowers in the end zone. Here is the video of the play.
LAMAR MISSES A WIDE OPEN ZAY FLOWERS to potentially tie up the game pic.twitter.com/1oHvErEZ4r
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) September 6, 2024
Take a look at another angle.
Lamar gonna get his flowers for going down the field but nobody gonna talk about the absolute miss the play before. Tough throw for sure but terrible miss pic.twitter.com/bQlGHinCrw
— ChiefsMUs (@TheKLAWcast) September 6, 2024
That was a brutal miss by Jackson, who put the ball on the completely wrong shoulder of a crossing Flowers. While Jackson did go on to have a nifty throw on the final play of the game for the apparent game-tying TD, replay review determined that pass-catcher Isaiah Likely was just barely (and we mean barely) out of bounds, making for a soul-sinking loss for Baltimore to begin the year.
As a result of the Flowers miss, Jackson got memed to oblivion on X. Here were some of the most ruthless posts.
Lamar Jackson with the game on the line and Zay Flowers wide open in the endzone pic.twitter.com/pgJlHWWpn0
— Depressed Buffalo Sports Fan (@Tommy_Dangles72) September 6, 2024
Tired: the Ravens lost by a toe
Wired: the Ravens lost by the 23 feet Lamar Jackson missed Zay Flowers
— John Cullen (@cullenthecomic) September 6, 2024
Lamar Jackson when Zay Flowers is wide open in the endzone to tie the game pic.twitter.com/xFqWZmxHo2
— c a l e . s i m p k i n s (@CaleSimpkins) September 6, 2024
"Lamar Jackson see's an open receiver!" pic.twitter.com/NyHBUyIVzT
— JFK (@JFK_Ryder) September 6, 2024
Jackson had a strong stat line overall, completing 26/41 passes for 273 yards and a touchdown and then adding another 122 yards on the ground. But his gaffe with Flowers will probably keep him awake throughout this weekend, especially since this was much less funny for Jackson than the last time that he got memed.
