Matt Elam poked the bear — err, transformer — and now all of Baltimore will have to feel his wrath.
Elam decided to be a loudmouth rookie earlier this week and called Calvin Johnson “pretty old.” Not only is that assessment of the 28-year-old far from the truth, but it’s also just the type of inflammatory comment that might set Megatron off. While Johnson laughed off the comment, saying he’d show Elam his “old-man strength,” some of Elam’s Ravens teammates weren’t quite too happy about it, including quarterback Joe Flacco.
“You just kind of look at him and say ‘Dude, what are you thinking? It’s Calvin Johnson,’” Flacco said to reporters on Thursday, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press.
Johnson, who broke the NFL’s single-season receiving record last year, is second in the NFL with both 1,351 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns this season, so it wasn’t going be easy to stop him anyway. Elam’s comments might only light a fire under the two-time All-Pro receiver to produce something similar to the 329-yard rampage he went on against the Cowboys earlier this season.
With the Ravens in the thick of a playoff race for the final spot in the AFC, Elam better be ready to at least back up his comments on the field come Sunday.
Have a question for Luke Hughes? Send it to him via Twitter at @LukeFHughes or send it here.
