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| Jared Wickerham/Getty Images |
It has been a miraculous run through the NFL playoff for the Baltimore Ravens. Knocking off the number one seed Denver Broncos in the divisional round and then this past Sunday beating the number two seed New England Patriots to win the AFC Championship. At the center of it all has been the Ravens defense and Anquan Boldin making big catches in clutch moments.
During Sunday's game Boldin was held without a catch in the first half by the Patriots. He was targeted twice by Joe Flacco, once the pass was overthrown and the other was knocked down by the defender. The Ravens trailed 13 to 7 at the half. To start the second half, Flacco hit Boldin with a 26 yard pass down the left side although the Ravens were unable to score during the possession. On the next series Boldin caught a pass over the middle for 12 yards to give the Ravens a first and goal. They would score two plays later. Anquan caught his next three targets. The first was for eight yards, second was a three yard touchdown score and third was an 11 yard score to open the game up for the Ravens. He was then targeted later in the fourth but the ball was again overthrown.
Anquan finished the game with five receptions for 60 yards and two touchdowns all in the second half. For the playoffs he has 15 catches for 276 yards and three touchdowns. For the regular season he only had four total touchdowns. Boldin has been able to beat defenders by going up and catching the ball at its highest point. He has continually wanted the ball more than the defenders.
For the Ravens to have success during the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers they will need to feed the ball to Anquan. The offense needs to run through Boldin to set-up speed receivers like Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones. Boldin has always been a between the seams receiver doing the dirty work and that is where he has done his damage in the playoffs.
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