After the San Francisco 49ers' disappointing 33-19 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night, head coach Kyle Shanahan addressed the media, shedding light on the team's extensive injury toll during the game. The offensive line, in particular, bore the brunt, resulting in a shuffled lineup by the end of the matchup.
The most significant blow came with the injury to veteran tackle Trent Williams, who suffered a groin injury in the third quarter and did not return. Shanahan informed reporters that Williams would undergo an MRI on Tuesday to assess the severity of the injury.
"I'm good," Williams assured reporters after the game. "I know you want to ask me about the injury. I'll be all right."
Shanahan explained, "He tried to go back in. The trainer didn't think it was a good idea. So we'll get the MRI tomorrow and see how it goes."
Jaylon Moore replaced Williams at left tackle but exited in the fourth quarter with a concussion. This prompted Colton McKivitz to shift to left tackle, with Spencer Burford stepping in at the right tackle position.
Guard Aaron Banks also exited late in the game, aggravating the turf toe injury on his right foot that had previously caused him to miss games this season. Ben Bartch replaced him.
#49ers LG Aaron Banks said he aggravated the turf toe injury on his right foot that previously forced him to miss two games.
— Eric Branch (@Eric_Branch) December 26, 2023
Quarterback Brock Purdy aggregated the stinger he sustained in Week 15, leaving the game against the Ravens in the fourth quarter. Although cleared to return, the 49ers opted to keep Sam Darnold at quarterback.
While Shanahan stated that Purdy "possibly" could have returned, he felt it was more prudent to keep him out given the circumstances, saying, "I know he was disappointed not being able to finish it there, but getting that stinger again, just wanted to keep him out of there and ready for him to bounce back next week."
Shanahan added, "I know he had a bad stinger, and we had three O-linemen out at the time, and I didn't want him to go in and not be ready for next week," before expressing confidence that the injury wouldn't be a long-term concern.
Purdy shared his perspective, saying, "Just the way I got tackled on that play, it sort of just lit up again, just like last week. So I had to go through the whole protocol process [in] the tent again and everything like that."
The television broadcast caught the coach and his quarterback engaged in a lengthy conversation on the sideline after Purdy had been cleared to return.
"We had talked about just the scenario of the game where we were at," Purdy explained. "Just got a stinger, and my arm was coming back, feeling normal and whatnot. And so he was just like, where we're at in the game, Sam had gone in and scored, and he goes, For right now, we're just going to go with Sam, just by how things are going.
"And we didn't want anything else popping up with the stinger and all that kind of stuff. But it was just where we were at situationally. So Sam was doing good, and we rolled with him."
Additionally, Shanahan disclosed that cornerback Ambry Thomas exited the game due to a hamstring injury.
