Days after calling Calvin Johnson"pretty old,"Baltimore Ravens rookie safety Matt Elam changed his tune in the locker room after an edgy 18-16 win Monday over the Lions.
"No disrespect to Megatron, (but) I didn't mean it that way," Elam said of Detroit's All-Pro wide receiver, per The Baltimore Sun. "I just feel like it's Monday night, (and) 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.
" ... He's one of the greatest receivers in the game," Elam added. "I have no disrespect for him. It was just my competitive spirit. I just want to win."
Elam took plenty of in-house flak for his dimwitted jab at Megatron, but the safety contributed with a game-high 10 tackles and a fourth-quarter interception of quarterback Matthew Stafford that buried Detroit.
"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."
It wasn't perfect. Elam hurt Baltimore with an unnecessary roughness call and a missed tackle on Nate Burleson that sprung the Lions wide receiver free for 17 yards on Detroit's first scoring drive. Still, Elam's final pick felt poetic.
For his next trick, we'd advise the rookie to keep his trap shut ahead of Sunday's key showdown with the New England Patriots.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" broke down the Cowboys loss and every other Week 15 game.
