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Arizona's Boldin Outruns Negative Image

Tribune photo by CLIFF McBRIDE

Arizona Cardinals WR Anquan Boldin speaks to the media at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay.

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 26, 2009

Updated: 01/27/2009 12:43 am

TAMPA - Those who work beside Anquan Boldin every day insist the camera got it wrong. The unblinking eye created an image of a self-centered player more concerned about his statistics than making it to the Super Bowl, all because Boldin had a shouting match with a coach during the NFC Championship Game.

But you know how it is. A career can be defined by such moments, so there was Boldin late Monday afternoon, trying once again to outrun coverage that can blanket the fastest receiver. He had just arrived in Tampa for the initial media gathering of Super Bowl XLIII, and it didn't take long for the conversation to swing to his run-in with Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley.

Boldin was angry that he was on the sideline during Arizona's final drive for the winning touchdown in a 32-25 victory against Philadelphia. Afterward, rather than celebrate the Super Bowl berth with his teammates, he left the locker room without taking questions. Bad timing, to say the least. But don't bother bringing it up again.

"I answered all those questions I am going to answer on this last week," Boldin said. "Our focus is on the Super Bowl."

That's one way to handle it — probably the right way, actually. So let's go to the videotape. Boldin called the reaction to the outburst "hilarious" and his teammates rushed to his defense. They did that again Monday, by the way.

"Q is one of the unquestioned leaders of this team," Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald said. "I think it was really blown out of proportion. It happens around the league. At practice, it happens all the time. Q is committed to this team."

He should be.

He is a team captain.

One Tough Guy

Boldin, the pride of Pahokee and Florida State, is also one tough guy. He has the titanium screws and plates in his head to prove it — 40 screws, seven plates, after an operation to repair a broken bone in his sinus after being belted in Week 4 by Jets safety Eric Smith.

He missed just two games.

"I remember everything about that play," he said.

Well, he didn't remember everything. After all, he was unconscious for a while. People thought he might miss the rest of the season.

"Doctors told me it was a rare injury," he said. "I saw the X-rays a couple of days after the surgery. For me, it feels like it's not even there now. I mean, I know it's there, but I've moved on."

It's easy to say but not always easy to do, especially when this might be Boldin's last game as a Cardinal. He was angry when Fitzgerald got a four-year, $40 million extension a couple of years ago while Boldin got nothing. Contract squabbles can be unseemly, especially in a climate like this, but Boldin figures to be in demand and that means more attention will be focused on stuff like this.

He is seen as a possible replacement for Plaxico Burress in New York, and, of course, the Bucs could use a receiver (or three) as well. He has two years left on his contract for $5.75 million total — a pittance compared to Fitzgerald — so he'd be attractive if the Cardinals were willing to trade him.

But why should they?

Distractions aside, Boldin is a guy you want on your team.

Focused On Winning

The Cardinals will need him in the Super Bowl if they have any shot at beating Pittsburgh. The Steelers figure to blanket Fitzgerald, and Boldin could be a tipping factor in a game like this. I mean, he did catch 89 passes this season and had 11 touchdowns.

He'll get more questions today and the remainder of the week about what happened on the Arizona sideline a couple of weeks ago. People will have opinions and most of them probably won't be good ones.

But his teammates have his back and Haley said the whole thing was blown out of proportion. Hey, it's the Super Bowl. That's what happens here. That's why players have to know how to handle it when the camera focuses on you at the wrong time.

So Boldin said more than once Monday that his focus is on winning, on being a productive member of this team, of doing what it takes to beat the top-ranked defense in the NFL. Anything else is, as he called it, "hype and hoopla" and he is trying to leave it behind.

He has made a good start in that direction. His best chance to do that, though, comes Sunday. Play well, and people will forget any of this other stuff ever happened.

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