49ers' Trent Williams is adamant he will play in NFC Championship clash with Rams
On the eve of their NFC Championship game against the Los Angeles Rams, the 49ers are still sweating on Trent Williams' availability, though he's very sure.
As the 49ers prepare to face the Rams in the NFC Championship game on Sunday, an important piece of their puzzle is still missing.
Trent Williams didn't train but remains positive
It's now been three days in succession - Friday being the latest - that San Francisco 49ers left tackle Trent Williams has been unable to train with the team due to his ankle injury. Williams, who sustained the injury during the second half of last week's Divisional Round win over the Green Bay Packers, is officially listed as questionable for Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Los Angeles Rams. While both Williams and his head coach Kyle Shanahan have been optimistic about his chances of playing throughout the week, the fact remains that he was unable to train and now with just one day to go before the big game, remains a doubt. That being said, both Shanahan and Williams are remaining optimistic.
"It's gonna be like it was three weeks ago," Shanahan said Friday. "I feel the same way as I did at the beginning of the week. He came out for walk-through today and Trent is adamant that he's going. He was last time, too - which I believe Trent when he says that. He's going to do everything he can to play and so I'll be surprised if he doesn't, but I was surprised last time. I was also surprised he was able to finish the game against Green Bay. So, hopefully his mindset will be how his body reacts on Sunday and we know it will help us a lot. But if not, we'll deal with it."
What exactly is the Trent Williams' injury situation?
It was only a few days ago when Shanahan admitted that it was unclear the type of sprain Williams had, indeed the head coach noted that some things needed to be clarified before they could pinpoint whether Williams was suffering from a high or low ankle sprain. On the other hand, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who himself was sidelined in 2020 with a high ankle sprain, said on Friday that Williams is dealing with something similar. "He's doing everything he can, honestly," Garoppolo said of Williams. "I've seen him in here just putting in the hours in the training room, studying, all that stuff. Hopefully we'll get him out there, but we'll see. Those high ankles are never a fun thing - I know that from experience."
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If nothing else the 49ers can at least take comfort in the fact that Williams was able to participate in the Niners' pre-practice walk-through on Friday. The big man was seen walking slowly off the field in a jersey with one of the team's training staff after the session had ended.
What happens if Trent Williams can't play?
Should it finally come to pass that Williams is not available for sunday's game, his duties will likely fall on the shoulders of backup Colton McKivitz, who actually replaced Williams in the previous game against the Rams. McKivitz definitely won himself praise in the aforementioned game and even bagged himself a second half sack. "Colton was unbelievable that game," Shanahan said. "I was living in hope thinking Trent was going to be able to go and finding that out pregame and just going right up to Colton and just the look on his face, he looked ready. Trent and I both laughed and were like, 'All right, we're good.' And then he went out and played like that. ...Colton stepped it up huge, and we wouldn't be here right now if he didn't play the way he did in that game."
With that, San Francisco can only wait and hope. With just one day left before their date with Los Angeles, Williams does have some extra time to try to recover, but not much although if you ask his teammates, everything is going to be just fine."Trent is a monster," said receiver Deebo Samuel said. "You've seen that all year long. I'm not going to go too much into detail what the plan is, but once we get there you'll just see."