I wrote a column for Sunday addressing Dexter Manley’s claim that Bill Walsh employed a bounty system on the 49ers. This is not that column. I will post it when the Press Democrat puts it on our website.

This is an out-take from my research. I spoke to former Niners assistant coach Fred vonAppen about the alleged bounties and used that interview for my column. VonAppen, who coached special teams and defensive line for the Niners, vehemently denied that Walsh used a bounty system.

VonAppen also spoke to me about cut blocking — offensive linemen going for the legs of the defenders. I didn’t use that material in the column, so here it is.

Cut blocking is a legal tactic in the tackle box. VonAppen, who defends the Niners sense of fair play, says Manley may have been referring to cut blocking when he said Walsh had a bounty program.

VonAppen told me Walsh was unsure if his offensive linemen should practice cut blocking in practice. He was leery of hurting the legs of his defensive lineman. VonAppen told him to go ahead and cut block — his defensive linemen needed to learn how to defend against that technique. So in practice, the offensive linemen would announce they would use cut blocks before a particular snap, so the defenders would know what was coming.

In the interest of full disclosure, vonAppen told me about cut blocking. Here are his quotes:

“(Offensive line coach) Bobb McKittrick advocated cut blocking. It was seen as controversial but it was within the rules. We had small guys on the offensive line and Bobb taught them to cut. We played the LA Raiders at the Coliseum in 1985, and Bobb had Jesse Sapolu and Randy Cross cut Howie Long. He was angry. After the game, he ran after Bobb on the way to the tunnel and shouted, ‘You bald-headed (expletive). I’m going to kick your ass.’

“Cut blocking was considered mildly unethical but we never got any sanctions from the league.”

There’s a touching end to this story. Before he died in 2000, McKittrick asked Joe Montana to phone Long so McKittrick and Long could make peace. Montana made the call, and Long called McKittrick and they spoke and McKittrick died without a heavy heart in that regard.