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49ers’ Trent Williams shuts down Rams’ Myles Garrett in clash of trench titans

San Francisco Chronicle · Harrison Rich; Eric Branch; Staff Writers · 2026-09-11T06:47:05+00:00 · nguồn gốc

MELBOURNE, Australia — A 99-yard drive on offense is the perfect feeling in football. Everything is humming. You get in a flow state and can do no wrong. Except for the offensive line. For them, it’s dreadful. Left tackle Trent Williams joked postgame that, throughout San Francisco 49ers’ 15-play, 99-yard drive that was capped by a Deebo Samuel touchdown, he was fighting an episode of cramps. Advertisement Article continues below this ad “I didn’t even know we went 99,” Williams said. “Well, I ain’t gonna say I didn’t know. It didn’t dawn on me because as soon as he scored, I tried to head to the locker room to get an IV.” While Williams wasn’t having much fun in the moment, he can look back on the drive and admire it. The 38-year-old understands how much confidence a possession like that gives an offense, which looked fantastic in a 27-7 win over the Los Angeles Rams on Friday (Thursday evening in the U.S.) at Melbourne Cricket Ground. “That’s what we’re capable of,” Williams said. “When you’re running the ball effectively, you’re passing off of it, you can do things like that.” While San Francisco’s entire offense looked dominant, Williams put forth a spectacular individual performance of his own. In 27 pass rush snaps against superstar defensive end Myles Garrett — who recorded 23.5 sacks a season ago with the Cleveland Browns — Williams allowed zero pressures, according to analyst Warren Sharp. That’s Garrett’s first time since 2018 not recording a single pressure in a game. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Garrett said postgame his knee didn’t feel 100% the entire game. Williams didn’t notice. “He’s still really hard to block,” he said. “It wasn’t good,” he said. “There’s some issues with it that we’ve got to see how it is. There’s a little more information to it, but we don’t know yet.” Tonges needed assistance exiting the field after he leg-whipped pass rusher Myles Garrett. Tonges ducked and hit Garrett’s thigh with the back of his lower right leg. Tonges’ injury is particularly notable with All-Pro tight end George Kittle easing his way back into action. Kittle had two catches for 12 yards on five targets Thursday and admitted he wasn’t in great playing shape. Kittle returned to practice on Aug. 23 after suffering a torn Achilles in January in the 49ers’ wild-card win at Philadelphia. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The 49ers’ No. 3 tight end, Luke Farrell, is a six-year veteran who had 11 catches for 85 yards in his debut season with the 49ers in 2025. Tonges was injured a year after he had the game-winning touchdown catch in a 17-13 victory at Seattle in last year’s season opener. It began a breakout season in which the 2022 undrafted free agent had 34 catches for 293 and five touchdowns, and signed a two-year, $8 million extension in March. Deebo back: Deebo Samuel was only away from the 49ers for one season. During that time, a lot has changed. When Samuel left San Francisco for the Washington Commanders after the 2024 season, he was viewed as an aging star that probably had some good days still ahead of him. Since he re-signed with San Francisco in August, the prevailing sentiment among fans has been that Samuel is, to put it politely, “washed.” Safe to say he put those doubters to rest (at least for now) on Friday. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Samuel looked fresh, explosive and like he was ecstatic to be back in Shanahan’s offense. He caught six balls for 48 yards and a touchdown, ran once up the gut for 12 yards and returned two kicks for 74 yards. “Deebo is a dog, man,” rookie running back Kaelon Black said. “Swiss Army knife, for sure.” The do-it-all Samuel may not be expected to play this well every week. Not at 30, and not once he begins to pick up bumps and bruises as the season goes on. But for now, the 49ers will take any juice they can get out of him, especially with rookie receiver De’Zhaun Stribling getting carted off with an ankle injury. “From training camp from the day that I got here, they welcomed me with open arms,” Samuel said. “Like I said earlier when I got here, it felt like I never left. I was really only gone for seven months and right back.” Advertisement Article continues below this ad Greenlaw wrapped up Rams tight end Tyler Higbee for a tackle early in the fourth quarter, and Warner brought the boom, punching the ball out for a fumble. With the 49ers already up by 17 points, the play essentially put the game out of reach for Los Angeles. Asked if he had intentionally held up Higbee so that Warner could sneak under the tight end and poke the ball free, Greenlaw said: “No doubt. I know he’s coming. That’s exactly what the mindset was.” Greenlaw had the quieter game on paper, recording six total tackles; Warner had 11 and was credited with the forced fumble. But both players were critical on Friday, and they looked as comfortable on the field as they ever have — even with the lost time.