Watch: 49ers Player Throws Punch at Opposing Player, Isn’t Ejected

Just before halftime on Thursday evening, 49ers left tackle Trent Williams appeared to punch Giants defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson. Instead of Williams being booted from the game, though, he and Robinson were slapped with offsetting unnecessary roughness penalties.

The offensive tackle slapped the defensive lineman on the side of the head during a brief skirmish, as San Francisco led New York 17–6. Replays of the incident show how obvious—and hard—the hit was, but for some reason, referees didn’t call for Williams to be ejected. You can see Robinson visibly startled by the punch, as he falls backward before being caught by a ref.

Trent Williams just punched A’Shawn Williams in the face lmao pic.twitter.com/TgaxaZJ5fX

— Alex Wilson (@AlexWilsonESM) September 22, 2023

After the game, The Athletic’s Matt Barrow spoke with Walt Anderson, senior president of officials for the NFL, about the decision not to eject Williams. He explained that in order for a player to be booted for unnecessary roughness, the move would have to be “flagrant.”

“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,” Anderson admitted. “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.”

He concluded: “We couldn’t confirm that 100 percent from the standpoint of was it truly a closed fist with a strike, we just couldn’t determine that.”

Speaking to reporters after his team beat the Giants 30–12, Williams defended his actions and said it was all part of football. “[I’m] just mixing it up, man. There are a lot of tempers flaring out there. It’s a competitive game, and sometimes things boil over a little bit.”