The Monday night matchup between the AFC-leading Baltimore Ravens and the NFC-leading San Francisco 49ers had all the makings of a classic. A potential Super Bowl preview, even.

But Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio didn't think the game was going to be particularly close. In fact, in previewing the game Thursday on his podcast with former NFL quarterback Chris Simms, Florio was particularly blunt: "The 49ers kick the (expletive) out of the Ravens on Monday night."

After Baltimore did most of the kicking in a 33-19 victory, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson fired back.

"You can’t just discredit us," Jackson said when asked about Florio's comments. "We’re grown men, we’ve got to feed our families. He can have his opinion, but don’t be just talking like that. That’s disrespectful. That’s very disrespectful."

And the 2019 NFL MVP didn't stop there.

"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, who celebrated proving "Mike Flores" wrong as he ran off the field after the game.

"We’re respectful to our opponents. Our opponents are respectful to us," Jackson continued in his postgame remarks. "But a guy who is not even playing against us gonna come out being disrespectful. I guess he wanted a little more views on his little channel. We’re gonna leave it at that."

After the Ravens' big win, Florio acknowledged he went too far in his initial comments – and he expressed his regrets on X.

"Lamar is right. I apologize for how I phrased my opinion," Florio wrote. "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."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ravens' Lamar Jackson slams Mike Florio for 'disrespectful' criticism