Mike Florio ,
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49ers receiver Jauan Jennings made headlines in Week 12 for getting punched in the nuts, and for reacting accordingly. In Week 13, Jennings sparked compelling sound bites from multiple Browns players, following things Jennings supposedly said after Browns defensive tackle Maliek Collins left the game with a season-ending quad injury .
“He’s a hoe, and I want that known,” Browns defensive lineman Shelby Harris said. “Like I see why he got punched in the nuts, because he said some things that you should not say to another man, ever. But, like, I don’t respect it because you say that then run behind your O-line. That’s some real soft shit, and I want that known. I see exactly why they punched him in the nuts . I’m surprised nobody[‘s] punched him in the jaw yet.”
On Monday, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was asked about the situation.
“Yeah, my understanding was, I mean, it had nothing to do with Maliek,” Shanahan said of the former 49ers. “We’ve got so much love from Maliek. It just sounded like there were players standing around for a while because of the injury, and then they got chirping at each other. I don’t know what words were said, but it sounded like he offended some guys with the words. But it was just about words during an injury time out.”
Shanahan said he has talked to Jennings.
“I talked to Jauan, I asked him about it, but not in like, I love how Jauan plays. I think Jauan plays to the whistle as well as any player in this league,” Shanahan said. “He’s extremely aggressive and plays as hard as he can to the whistle and he’s been doing that, as Niners fans know and you guys know, since he’s been here. I think sometimes that offends other players and rubs people the wrong way because they’re not used to people going that hard to the whistle. But I think what J.J. is very good at is not breaking rules. It’s just like at Arizona last year when he went to the whistle so hard it offended some of their corners, and they started throwing punches, and unfortunately, J.J. got kicked out too. But not because he didn’t throw a punch or anything. I think J.J.’s been really good at not breaking rules that way, and he gets other guys to break them a lot on him.”
Players talk all the time. Sometimes, they cross the line. When they do, other players will react.
And Shanahan seems to be fine with talking and/or any other efforts to get under an opponent’s skin, as long as the rules aren’t broken. If it gets a player from the other team to do something that gets him penalized and/or ejected, that’s an advantage for the 49ers.
That doesn’t make it right. It’s just another basic reality of pro football.
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