Trent Williams remembers Philadelphia well. The veteran offensive lineman holds vivid memories of that city's fanbase, having frequented Lincoln Financial Field as a member of the Washington Commanders.
The San Francisco 49ers recalled their experience playing in that stadium during last season's NFC Championship Game. Still, Williams is more familiar with the venue and was able to offer valuable insights to his teammates ahead of Sunday's highly anticipated matchup.
"That's one thing that I vividly remember from my years in Washington is that the crowd, although they are loud and they are hostile, one thing about it is they do turn on the team pretty quick," Williams told KNBR's Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher on Tuesday morning. "So my message to my guys is just working the noise early, and it'll be quiet late."
The 49ers had the Eagles fans booing the home team by halftime, holding a 14-6 lead at the break. That lead turned into a dominating 42-19 victory, resulting in the fans heading for the exits early.
"And third, fourth quarter comes around, you started to see guys starting to beat the traffic," Williams continued. "So when you go into Philly, that's the only way to plan. It's similar to Seattle. You got to be able to work in the noise early, and then you make the plays you're supposed to make, you take the crowd out of it pretty quick."
Next up for the 49ers is a game against the Seattle Seahawks. Although, that game will be played at Levi's Stadium. San Francisco beat the Seahawks 31-13 in Seattle on December 3.
"Unlike Philly, Seattle won't boo their players before halftime," Williams noted. "But Philly, they got a short attention span, and those guys, they only got a few quarters to impress. And if they don't, you're going to start to hear the boo birds early."
As the minutes dwindled in Sunday's game, Eagles fans had vanished, leaving only a contingent of 49ers supporters who had ventured into enemy territory to watch the contest.
Williams added, "And I was really pleased when we started to hear them, and kind of knew that we was turning it into our home stadium, slowly but surely."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Williams below.
