(Credit: ProFootballTalk)
NBCNFLBy Sam Neumann on

Mike Florio has egg on his face.

And the Baltimore Ravens — specifically Lamar Jackson — let the ProFootballTalk owner and creator know about it.

Florio (or Mike Flores, as Jackson called him) said that the San Francisco 49ers would kick the s**** out of the Ravens on Christmas night. Instead, the Ravens won handily, 33-19, by forcing five turnovers, including four interceptions from the NFL’s MVP frontrunner — Brock Purdy.

“We’re in the NFL. We play ball. Not to take away from that team, but you can’t just discredit us. We’re grown men. We got to feed our families,” Jackson said.” [Mike Florio] can have his opinion, but don’t just talk like that. That’s disrespectful. That’s very disrespectful. Not to take away from the 49ers at all, because they’re great all across the board, but we’re going to come to play as well. Our record [isn’t a] fluke. We play ball, and we showed that.”

Florio did offer an apology for what it’s worth, but the proverbial damage was already done.

The Ravens felt disrespected and had every right to feel that way.

Florio said that the 49ers would “dismantle” the Ravens, but the only things being dismantled on Sunday night were Florio’s comments and the Brock Purdy-MVP discussion.

“He needs to just keep doing his job, but don’t come off like that towards us because that’s disrespectful like I said. Because he ain’t putting them pads on. If he were putting them pads on, I feel like it’d be different for him,” said Jackson.

“We’re respectful to our opponents. Our opponents are respectful to us,” he continued. “But a guy who’s not even playing against us [and] just coming out and being disrespectful, I guess he wanted more views on his little channel. We’re going to leave it at that.”

Florio said earlier in the week that an NFL team needs motivation from an “idiot like me” (his words, not ours); then they’ve already lost. Well, it sure seems like the Ravens, who didn’t need any extra motivation to prove they were the AFC’s best team, championed Florio’s words as bulletin board material.

Before Jackson could even reach the locker room, the Ravens quarterback was mocking comments made by Mike “Flores.” In the 14-point defeat of the 49ers, Jackson went 23-of-35 for 252 yards with two touchdowns while adding 45 rushing yards (on seven carries) in the ground game.

Florio’s prediction went up in smoke, replaced by the Ravens’ resounding victory and a well-deserved dose of humble pie.

Perhaps he’ll think twice about picking against Baltimore again, but it sure seems like the 12-3 Ravens don’t have any plans of not holding his words against him.

[Baltimore Ravens]

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann