BOLDIN BRUSHES OFF SUNDAY’S FRACAS

A day after Cardinals receiver Anquan Boldin jawed with offensive coordinator Todd Haley and then bolted from the field and the locker room without celebrating the franchise’s historic (primarily because the franchise has been so damn bad) victory in the NFC title game, Boldin downplayed the situation. Appearing on ESPN’s NFL Live, Boldin addressed whether there’s a lingering issue with Haley: “Not a problem at all,” Boldin said. “I’m committed to this team . . . one goal in mind . . . to win the Super Bowl. That’s why I came back early from the facial injury. You don’t get this opportunity all the time.” Both Haley and Boldin acknowledged that the veteran receiver was miffed that he had been taken off the field during the fourth-quarter drive that allowed the Cards to win the game after watching a 24-6 lead melt into a 25-24 deficit. “I was not given any explanation why I was taken out,” Boldin said on NFL Live. “Like any competitor I wanted to know why.” He also addressed his decision to flee the locker room. “I didn’t leave through a back door. I tried to get in and out as quickly as possible to beat the media,” Boldin said. “I didn’t want the story line to be me and Todd getting into it.” Though it wasn’t wise for Boldin to celebrate the win with his teammates, it would have been worse for Boldin to stick around and put his foot in his mouth. The guy isn’t T.O., yet. Boldin has made it known that he wants out of Arizona, due to the huge gap in pay between himself and teammate Larry Fitzgerald and the team’s refusal to close it sufficiently. But Boldin set all that aside and busted his butt for the entire season. That said, he surely realizes that putting up big numbers during high-profile games would prompt potential suitors to flood the Cardinals with offseason trade offers, and maybe Boldin wonders whether there’s an agenda to win while keeping his numbers down, in the hopes of keeping him around for the final two years of his current deal. But maybe Boldin should look at it another way. Maybe the Cardinals are trying to determine whether they can play successfully without Boldin before trading him.