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The NFL could not determine whether San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams struck New York Giants defensive lineman A\u2019Shawn Robinson with a closed fist on ‘Thursday Night Football’. The league’s senior vice president of officiating Walt Anderson explained why the ten-time Pro Bowler was not ejected after the game.<\/p>\n
Williams, 35, reacted to a late contact by Robinson on 49ers left guard Aaron Banks while Brock Purdy was taking a knee by shoving his opponent back at the same time as his teammate. The forceful push sent the Giants defensive lineman staggering backward, but he soon leaped back into Williams’ face.<\/p>\n
Robinson gives his opponent an uppercut while walking past him that made contact underneath the helmet. Williams then hit right back with a roundhouse punch to the left side of Robinson’s facemask.<\/p>\n
After a two-minute-long delay, both players got offsetting unnecessary roughness penalties, as referee Shawn Hochuli announced. Anderson confirmed that the officiating department reviewed replays of the incident and explained why they did not upgrade the call to a flagrant.<\/p>\n
Don’t miss… <\/strong> \u201cWhen we have a flag thrown on the field for unnecessary roughness, members of the officiating department are able to review available video, Rule 19, to determine if there is a flagrant action that should result in a disqualification,” the senior vice president of officiating told The Athletic.<\/p>\n “We ended up looking at the video we had available to us, and we just didn\u2019t see anything that rose to the level of flagrant, which is the standard that we have to apply to disqualify the player.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked whether striking an opponent in the facemask was flagrant, Anderson again defended the decision. \u201cWell, these are judgment calls, and a lot of times you might end up having an open hand, often a stiff arm to the face, versus a closed fist punch, which certainly carries a different weight to it,” he added.<\/p>\n We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n “So, we ended up looking at the available video we had, and just didn\u2019t feel like the actions rose to the level of flagrant. 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.” Anderson also said that the officials consulting the replays did not have all the camera angles to look at the punch.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, Williams did not deem it a punch, either, when asked afterward. “Just mixing it up, man,” he told reporters about the incident. “There are a lot of tempers flaring out there. It’s a competitive game, and sometimes things boil over a little bit.”<\/p>\n “I don’t think so,” Williams replied when asked whether he was expecting a fine for the punch, explaining: “It was a love tap. It wasn’t that hard.” Robinson did not engage with the matter afterward. “I don’t know,” was the gist of his stance on it all.<\/p>\n
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