Not going to take too much time straying off subject from this oh so interesting 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers squad, but I wanted to take a moment to point out to those who may not be aware just how special a football player Anquan Boldin is. MVP talk is quickly gravitating towards Arizona Cardinals QB Kurt Warner, and deservedly so. His numbers are flat out silly, and more importantly for Cardinals fans, he's got them in legitimate contention to not only make the playoffs, but to also secure a first round BYE and a home game in the Divisional Round.
I want to shift the spotlight to one of his WRs though - Anquan Boldin. Here are Boldin's stats for the year. For what it's worth as well, Boldin's also Football Outsider's #1 rated WR in both their primary metric categories.
The yards per game and TDs are tops in the league, and some of the other totals might be even more impressive had he not of course missed two game earlier in the year when he broke bones in his face! No, that's not a misprint, Boldin had to have his skin lifted back so that plates could be inserted! And then just a few weeks later he's playing fearlessly, going over the middle with abandon, and generally playing like the toughest WR in the game not named Hines.That kind of toughness is contagious on a football team that's trying to change its 'culture'.
His running-mate on the other side - Larry Fitzgerald - ain't too shabby either, but for my money, there may be no WR in the game that I'd rather have on the Steelers. With Ken Whisenhunt already thinking about ways to deploy him in some variation of the 'Wildcat' Boldin's impact on the Cardinals already explosive offense may grow even larger.
For the toughness and the production, Anquan Boldin is my pick for MVP at this point.