Boldin announces he’ll retire with Baltimore
Tucker reaches milestone in the second quarter Sunday
The videoboard at M&T Bank Stadium had just finished showing highlights of former Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who announced Sunday that he will be retiring with the team after winning a Super Bowl with Baltimore. But the nostalgia couldn’t settle in.
Bengals kick returner Brandon Wilson took the opening kickoff and sprinted along the Ravens sideline, en route to a 92-yard kickoff return touchdown.
The return gave the Bengals an early 7-0 lead, their first and only of the game, and was the first kickoff return touchdown allowed by the Ravens since Joe McKnight ran one back on Oct. 2, 2011.
“The kickoff return set us up in a hole,” coach John Harbaugh said. “[I was] very disappointed with that. We’re much better than that. That will be a little bit of a wake-up call for us in that area. Our guys are not happy about it, but it’s our own fault. We didn’t cover the kick well.”
The Ravens tied the game on the following possession, a 21-yard touchdown run by quarterback Lamar Jackson, and never faced a deficit again in Sunday’s 23-17 win.
The return touchdown was a sore spot for a team that prides itself on having strong special teams, but the unit regrouped in what was an otherwise clean performance.
“The offense said, you know, ‘We’re really looking forward to getting the ball at the start of the game, so we might as well just consider that,’” guard Marshal Yanda said.
“We got the ball to start the game. So you don’t blink. That’s life in the NFL. There’s good players over there, world-class players, and they take it to the house, that’s just something you clean-slate. Get after it every single play, and we understand they’re good. They can make plays. This is the NFL.”
Tucker reaches 1,000 points
In the second quarter of Sunday’s win, kicker Justin Tucker made a 40-yard field goal to give the Ravens a 17-7 lead.
The kick also placed Tucker in the record books, as he became the fastest kicker in NFL history to reach 1,000 points, accomplishing the feat in 118 games.
The accomplishment comes days after Tucker was named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week, his 10th time receiving the honor.
“I find the coolest thing about reaching this milestone,” Tucker said, “is that I get to share it with [punter] Sam [Koch], who has held for every single one of those points, and [long snapper] Morgan [Cox], who has snapped for almost all of them. They are not just great teammates, but they are great friends.”
Boldin to retire a Raven
Boldin, who spent three of his 14 NFL seasons with the Ravens, announced Sunday that he will retire as a member of the team.
The three-time Pro Bowl selection and 2003 Offensive Rookie of the Year played with the Ravens from 2010 to 2012, winning Super Bowl XLVII against the San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 3, 2013. Boldin signed with San Francisco that offseason and spent three years there before playing his final season with the Detroit Lions in 2016 at 36 years old. He spent the first seven years of his career with the Arizona Cardinals.