The two San Francisco 49ers tackles — and the whole offensive line, really — have been heavily criticized for their performances on Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. Veteran tackle Trent Williams hasn't been immune to the criticism.
Some called it one of the worst performances they've seen from Williams, a seven-time Pro Bowl selection, during his illustrious career. One reporter on Thursday bluntly asked Williams about the Week 4 performance, saying, "Most of us haven't seen you basically get beaten like that in a long time."
Williams responded by defending his play against the Eagles defense.
"It depends on what you mean," Williams said. "If you're talking about pass [protection], I was credited for half a sack from the coaches, which I feel like I could have did that play a little better. But the quarterback got to moving around, and things happen. I mean, we can all be better in that sense.
"In pass pro after that, I was pretty clean, from a personal standpoint. Our of 74 plays, (there were) probably four to five I wish I had back. Obviously, the penalties, they're on me. Bonehead penalties. You've got to erase those from the game. But other than that, from a pass protection (standpoint), I had a pretty clean sheet."
Pro Football Focus credited Williams with two sacks, a hit, a hurry, and four pressures allowed in pass protection as the veteran tackle received his worst pass protection grade (63.7) of the season from the site. Of course, it is worth noting that Pro Football Focus doesn't credit players with half sacks as others do, and considers all sacks a full sack.
Regardless of what Pro Football Focus or any other analysts say of Williams' performance, the tackle has a different view of how things went on Sunday night.
"I know sometimes the public perception can think some things are on you when in-house, you kind of know they're not," Williams added. "That's a tough deal to kind of juggle with, just dealing with perception vs. reality."