San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kyle Williams handed the NFC Championship Game to the Giants with two turnovers on punt returns. Williams, the son of White Sox GM Ken Williams, was filling in for the injured Ted Ginn Jr. as the team’s punt returner. Two Giants players said after their win that they targeted him because of his concussion history.
“The thing is, we knew he had four concussions, so that was our biggest thing, was to take him outta the game,” said Jacquian Williams, who forced the second fumble.
Devin Thomas recovered both fumbles and said the same thing.
“He’s had a lot of concussions. We were just like, ‘We gotta put a hit on that guy,’ ” Thomas said. “(Tyler) Sash did a great job hitting him early and he looked kind of dazed when he got up. I feel like that made a difference and he coughed it up.”
Did Williams make a bad decision to be around the ball on the first return because he was woozy? And is that the reason he lost the second punt? It’s hard to say. We do know there’s at least another reason for his poor showing. Williams’ father says his son thinks he separated his shoulder in the third quarter. Neither man wants sympathy; Kyle felt he could get the job done.
Kyle Williams is a huge reason why the 49ers lost, but he’s not the only reason. I just hope the death threats and animosity from 49ers fans ends. There is no need for that.
And for the record, Williams was concussed in Week 16 and missed the season finale because of it. He told reporters earlier this month that it was his fourth concussion.
