Early Friday morning Florio published a column defending his words, saying he was not advocating dirty play.
“One specific quote from that discussion, despite the plain, clear words used, has become a rallying cry for Chiefs fans who contend that I’m advocating that 49ers players try to injure Mahomes if he runs the ball in Super Bowl LIV. It’s not what I said. It’s not what I believe,” he wrote. “I was on the Mahomes bandwagon before there was a bandwagon, and I’ve marveled at every great play he has made in his two years as a starter… I’ve praised him publicly and privately for being unaffected by the superstardom that inevitably arrived.”
Florio wrote that his remarks were misunderstood by fans who have only seen “an out-of-context snippet on Twitter” and don’t know his true intention.
“The quote that landed on social media — the precise language of which is being, for whatever reason, twisted and warped into something that it wasn’t and isn’t — omits the broader context,” Florio wrote before posting the full exchange, which included a conversation about the Titans’ poor attempts to tackle Mahomes when he scrambled out of the pocket and can be treated as a runner, as opposed to a QB.
“It’s not about trying to injure Mahomes. It’s about treating a quarterback who becomes a running back like a running back, applying the kind of hit that will make him think twice about becoming a running back again,” Florio explained. “I did not say they should hit him after he’s out of bounds. I did not say they should hit him when he’s clearly into his slide. I said that, if it’s close to the sideline or maybe he has started into his slide, they shouldn’t pull up, not with a world championship riding on the outcome.”
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