During the drive that led to Carlos Hyde’s game-winning touchdown run, wide receiver Anquan Boldin came up with a key 29-yard catch to get the team closer to the Washington end zone.
Boldin making a big catch is nothing new, but this one came with a twist. Boldin took a shot to the helmet from Redskins safety Ryan Clark’s helmet that drew a flag and left Clark on the ground, but the receiver bounced off and gained more yards before the defense could finally bring him down.
“At that point, the game’s on the line,” Boldin said, via ESPN.com. “There’s no way that I cannot go for the ball at that point. You’re called upon in that moment, and your teammates are expecting you to come through for them. It’s part of football.”
Boldin, who had nine catches for 130 yards and a touchdown on Sunday, learned the downside of such hits in 2008 when he suffered a concussion, sinus fracture and other injuries on a hit from Jets safety Eric Smith. Boldin missed just two games despite those injuries and said Sunday that he doesn’t “need to play this game anymore if I’m thinking about a hit that happened five, six, however long it was.”
It was a big moment for the 49ers, who may have wound up with a bad loss if Boldin weren’t able to deliver a blow instead of succumbing to one.
