For the second time this season, Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin lit into his teammates. But unlike his halftime speech in the team's 15-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 19, his outburst in Thursday night's 26-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons was caught on camera.
After the offense's opening drive of the third quarter ended on the third play with quarterback Joe Flacco throwing a lazy pass that was intercepted by Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes, NFL Network cameras caught Boldin passionately imploring his teammates to focus and improve their play.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Ravens marched 65 yards on 10 plays and got a 5-yard touchdown catch from – guess who? – Boldin.On Wednesday, fellow wideout Derrick Mason applauded Boldin's leadership.
"You've got to pick and choose when you say things to certain people, and I think we've got enough people on the sideline that we understand that, and [Anquan] understands that," Mason said. "There's a time when you've got to uplift your team with your words, and then there's a time you just sit back and kind of let things unfold. For us, that time against Atlanta was, I believe, in the third quarter. … And then we went out and we put together a drive. So I think you've got to pick and choose your situations and your time when you say [something], especially when you're talking to your quarterback of when you're talking to the guys up front because they've got so much other stuff they need to worry about. Like I told you, I respect those guys for what they do, so I think it's good that we have him and even some other guys that are able and willing to go up there and say something."
