Subscribe
Follow Us
Will the real Baltimore Ravens please stand up? The No. 1 seed in the AFC did not look remotely like the team that bulldozed its way through the league for the last several weeks, but momentum started to change in the second half of Sunday's conference championship game. Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L'Jarius Sneed had other plans, however.
The former fourth-round pick essentially ensured that KC would be defending its crown in Super Bowl 58 after recording a forced fumble as Ravens rookie wide receiver Zay Flowers made a beeline for the end zone in the first play of the fourth quarter. A surefire touchdown, which was already delayed because of a Flowers' taunting penalty, instead became the most important feat of Sneed's NFL career.
Though, the monumental turnover might not have happened if the 27-year-old wasn't humbled minutes earlier by a 54-yard Flowers catch. Sneed was a recipient of the aforementioned taunting, something that fueled him a few plays later.
“I was mad because I didn’t see him behind me,” he said, per Nate Taylor of The Athletic. “I heard he stepped over me, so I was like, ‘OK, get back up and next play.’ And I made the play.”
A potential star-making performance, highlighted by a 30-yard touchdown in the first quarter, turned into a nightmarish end to an otherwise promising rookie campaign for Zay Flowers (still had 105 yards and TD vs Chiefs). For Kansas City, it was a dynasty-saving moment, one the team regularly rehearses.
“I’m just thankful, man,” L'Jarius Sneed said. “I just punched the ball out. We practice that every week.”
