Ravens rookie safety Matt Elam made himself the center of attention last week.
Fortunately, he was in the middle of one of the biggest plays of last night’s win, so he didn’t have to walk home.
Elam’s fourth-quarter interception took him off the hook for his semi-taunting of Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson, a move which earned him the scorn of teammates and coaches alike.
“No disrespect to Megatron, I didn’t mean it that way,” Elam said, via Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. “I just feel like it’s Monday night, everybody is watching. You’re going to give your best game anyway. It shouldn’t be somebody calling somebody out to play a good game. You’re going to play a good game anyway because it’s Monday night and everybody’s watching and you want to win.
“He’s one of the greatest receivers in the game. I have no disrespect for him. It was just my competitive spirit. I just want to win.”
At least he did something about it. Whatever his intent, firing up one of the best players in the game wasn’t a wise move.
And early in the game, it looked like he was going to pay for it, via karma. He was flagged for unnecessary roughness for hitting a sliding Matthew Stafford on a third down, and then missed a tackle in the open field that gave the Lions another first down en route to a touchdown.
But the late pick erased all those memories.
“I’m very proud of Matt,” cornerback Lardarius Webb said. “After he made those comments, the guys were messing with him, teasing him a little bit. You could tell by how he was focused this week, he was into it, so I knew he was going to have a big game.
“He was just trying to back up his words. I’m just so proud of him that the pick landed in his hands to end that game, to let him know that he’s here, that he’s a part of it. He needs to be known.”
For something other than his mouth, at least.