This heavyweight matchup may decide the 49ers' Week 4 outcome

This matchup will be so much fun to watch.

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When the San Francisco 49ers face off with the Jacksonville Jaguars, it will feature two of the best players at their position going head-to-head for the majority of the game. The spotlight will be on Trent Williams as he takes on Josh Hines-Allen. 

Can 49ers LT Trent Williams have success against Josh Hines-Allen?

Pro Football Focus has this as the biggest matchup of the game, and the one that may decide who the winner is.

Even in his 15th season, Trent Williams hasn’t skipped a beat. He’s still paving the way as pass protector (72.2 grade) and run blocker (72.8), earning a top-10 PFF grade among tackles this season. At 37 years old, Williams routinely showcases his athleticism in the 49ers’ outside zone-heavy scheme, posting the third-highest PFF run-blocking grade (88.8) running the concept.

The Jaguars’ defense has begun to take strides behind the consistent play of Josh Hines-Allen. Although he hasn’t been piling up the sacks, he’s racking up pressures at an incredible rate, with his 18 pressures ranking as the second-most in the NFL this season. That sets up a strong matchup on passing downs between Hines-Allen and Williams.

Mason Cameron

It is impressive to see that Williams is grading out in the top ten through three weeks, because he struggled in Week 1. However, he has been nearly flawless the past two games. To be fair, Arizona did not align Josh Sweat on Williams much, so he had the lesser pass rushers, and against New Orleans, he mostly shut down Carl Granderson. 

Not to diminish what some of those rushers can do, and Williams did play well, but this is going to challenge him a bit more. Was Williams back to his old ways, or can he beat the less dominant athletes at this stage, while being up-and-down against players near his caliber?

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Hines-Allen only has 0.5 sacks so far, but the tape matches the PFF charting. He disrupts more plays than that stat suggests. Hines-Allen was in the same draft as Nick Bosa and went just a few picks after. Through four years, it looked like that was the obvious pick, but Hines-Allen has 25.5 sacks in the past two seasons, while Bosa entered the year with 19.5 over that time. Bosa still has more career sacks, but that shows what type of rusher the 49ers are dealing with this week. 

Hines-Allen may be entering his peak right now, and the high number of pressures will typically see the sacks come shortly after. 

Hines-Allen has 148 snaps on the defensive line this season, and 135 of those are aligned against the left tackle. The Jaguars are not going to shy away from that matchup.

Williams remains the highest-regarded at his position, and Hines-Allen is ascending into that territory. Have the two started to pass each other like ships in the night, with Williams starting to hit the age of decline while Hines-Allen is peaking, or does Williams have one more year of dominance in him? 

The San Francisco 49ers are going to learn a lot by what Williams does in this Week 4 matchup