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If Monday’s matchup between the 49ers and the Ravens was a Super Bowl preview, Baltimore will be walking away with the Lombardi Trophy based on how things played out. Mike Florio certainly didn’t see that victory coming, and he ate some crow after Lamar Jackson called him out following the game
The 49ers headed into their Christmas Day matchup with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens as 6.5-point favorites, and it was hard to blame the oddsmakers for thinking San Francisco would walk away with the win based on how dominant the team has looked this season.
Last week, Pro Football Talk founder Mike Florio didn’t mince words when he revealed his prediction for the showdown, stating “The 49ers kick the s— of the Ravens on Monday night” while forecasting the outcome of the game.
However, that did not turn out to be the case.
When everything was said and done, Brock Purdy threw four interceptions while Jackson recorded 252 yards in the air, added another 45 on the ground, and tossed a couple of touchdowns while leading his squad to the 33-19 victory.
The QB called out Florio while walking through the tunnel to the locker room after the contest, and during his postgame press conference, he got the chance to elaborate, saying:
“He can have his opinion, but don’t just talk like that. That’s disrespectful. That’s very disrespectful…
He just needs to keep doing his job, but just don’t come off like that towards us. That’s disrespectful, like I said, because he isn’t putting the pads on.
If he was putting the pads on, I feel like it would’ve been different for him. He wouldn’t say that. He’d be respectful.”
Florio does deserve some credit for quickly admitting he was wrong, as he hopped on social media to apologize for his comment while admitting Jackson and the Ravens “deserve complete and total respect.”
Lamar is right. I apologize for how I phrased my opinion. I believed the 49ers were dramatically better than every other team in the NFL: Cowboys, Eagles, Chiefs, Dolphins, everyone. The Ravens proved otherwise. They deserve complete and total respect for what they accomplished. https://t.co/4ja4gvuWnc
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 26, 2023
This probably won’t be the last time Florio supplies a team with some bulletin board material, but maybe he’ll think twice before he serves up another hot take like that one.