The San Francisco 49ers secured their third straight win of the new season on Thursday to maintain their 100% record. It was the New York Giants that ended up on the wrong end of a 30-12 blowout win in favor of the Niners, who once again proved that they are indeed one of the top teams in the NFL this year.
Unsurprisingly, there was no shortage of action in the high-octane matchup.
San Francisco 49ers Star Trent Williams Speaks Out on Altercation
At one point in the game, 49ers tackle Trent Williams was involved in a heated altercation with Giants defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson. Based on the replays, it looked like the 10-time Pro Bowler threw a punch right at Robinson’s head:
Did #49ers Trent Williams throw a punch here? if he did, that's supposed to be an ejection. pic.twitter.com/qLzqDq7LTT
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) September 22, 2023
Should Trent Williams have been ejected for this?pic.twitter.com/LN7BCdlziK
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 22, 2023
Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed and the incident deescalated as quickly as it started. This actually could have been much worse if players from opposing teams got involved.
After the game, reporters asked Williams to share his thoughts on the fight. The Niners star played down the entire incident, saying that it was nothing more than a “love tap.” The All-Pro tackle also believes that he shouldn’t face any punishment for the altercation:
“It was a love tap.”
Trent Williams doesn’t think he should be fined for punching A’Shawn Robinson in the face mask 😅 pic.twitter.com/FgjQLJNbtV
— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) September 22, 2023
NFL Explains Why Trent Williams Wasn’t Ejected
More than a few folks out there believe that Williams’ actions should have led to an automatic ejection. In fact, some fans have already been demanding a suspension for the controversial Niners star.
NFL senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson spoke to reporters after the game, and he shed light on why the referees opted not to remove Williams from the contest after a suspected punch. Apparently, league officials “couldn’t confirm that 100 percent from the standpoint of was it truly a closed fist with a strike.”
“When we have a flag thrown on the field for unnecessary roughness, members of the officiating department are able to review available video, Rule 19, to determine if there is a flagrant action that should result in a disqualification,” Anderson said (h/t Josh Alper of PFT). “We ended up looking at the video we had available to us, and we just didn’t see anything that rose to the level of flagrant, which is the standard that we have to apply to disqualify the player.”
Either they didn’t see the angle from the clips posted above or the officials just didn’t think that supposed punch was violent enough to warrant an ejection. It remains to be seen if the 49ers veteran will receive any retroactive punishment for his actions here, but based on Anderson’s statement above, it does not seem likely.
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