Giants Country

Officials Explain Why 49ers OL Trent Williams Wasn't Ejected for Throwing a Punch

Simply put, they somehow missed the close-fisted punch.
Patricia Traina|
Officials Explain Why 49ers OL Trent Williams Wasn't Ejected for Throwing a Punch
Officials Explain Why 49ers OL Trent Williams Wasn't Ejected for Throwing a Punch

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New York Giants

Throw a close-fisted punch in football, and not only is that worthy of an ejection, but it also comes with a rather hefty fine.

Yet San Francisco 49ers offensive lineman Trent Williams, who on replay was clearly shown throwing a closed-fisted punch to the face of New York Giants defensive lineman A'Shawn Robinson, managed to escape being ejected.

The reason? The officials apparently didn't see the close-fisted strike that occurred just before halftime.

"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," said NFL NFL Senior Vice President of officiating Walt Anderson via a pool report gathered by 49ers PFWA rep Matt Barrows. 

"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.”

Okay (well, not okay), but wouldn't purposely hitting someone in the head warrant a level of flagrant?

“Well, these are judgment calls, and a lot of times you might end up having an open hand, often a stiff arm to the face, versus a closed fist punch, which certainly carries a different weight to it," Anderson explained. 

"So, we ended up looking at the available video we had and just didn’t feel like the actions rose to the level of flagrant. You can certainly end up having contact with hands to the helmet, and some of those actions would be deemed a punch, others would not."

The bottom line is the officials didn't have the same television angles to review the play as the viewing audience, and Williams got away with one. 

But you can bet that a hefty fine is coming his way this week from the league office, and who will no doubt have access to the same replay that the television audience saw.

 

Published
Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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