The Seahawks won at Santa Clara last night, and it wasn’t close. Top to bottom, they just looked like a much better team. There was, however, one X factor who should make things closer if these teams meet again.
Trent Williams is a Hall of Fame left tackle. He and Tristan Wirfs are the premier players at that position. He didn’t play last night, and that was a contributing factor to San Francisco’s struggles.
My gut tells me Seattle was going to win that game regardless, but the 49ers have been a lot better when Williams is at left tackle. He’s been with them for six years, and in the 20 games he’s missed all or most of, they’re 5-15. They’re 54-27 in their other 81 games, averaging almost 6 more points.
Without Williams, they average 30 fewer rushing yards (102, rather than 132).
When Williams has been out, the 49ers have actually averaged 7 more passing yards (264 vs. 257), but without the same efficiency. In those 20 no-Trent games, they’ve thrown only 27 touchdowns, and with 26 interceptions. In the other games, they’ve averaged almost a half touchdown pass more per game – 143 touchdowns versus only 58 interceptions in those 81 games.
Williams is a week removed from a hamstring injury. Getting him up and running, obviously, is key. He was up in the air heading into the Seattle game, so I imagine he’ll be ready.
| RUSHING WITHOUT TRENT WILLIAMS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Att | Yards | Avg | TD |
| 2020 | G.B. | L, 17-34 | 17 | 55 | 3.2 | 1 |
| 2020 | Sea. | L, 23-26 | 24 | 86 | 3.6 | 1 |
| 2021 | Ind. | L, 18-30 | 24 | 111 | 4.6 | 1 |
| 2021 | at LAR | W, 27-24 | 31 | 135 | 4.4 | 1 |
| 2022 | LAR | W, 24-9 | 22 | 88 | 4.0 | 1 |
| 2022 | at Car. | W, 37-15 | 29 | 153 | 5.3 | 2 |
| 2022 | at Atl. | L, 14-28 | 16 | 50 | 3.1 | 0 |
| 2023 | at Min. | L, 17-22 | 22 | 65 | 3.0 | 1 |
| 2023 | Cin. | L, 17-31 | 23 | 113 | 4.9 | 1 |
| 2023 | • Balt. | L, 19-33 | 18 | 121 | 6.7 | 1 |
| 2023 | • LAR | L, 20-21 | 29 | 125 | 4.3 | 2 |
| 2024 | at G.B. | L, 10-38 | 16 | 44 | 2.8 | 0 |
| 2024 | at Buff. | L, 10-35 | 27 | 153 | 5.7 | 1 |
| 2024 | Chi. | W, 38-13 | 34 | 131 | 3.9 | 3 |
| 2024 | LAR | L, 6-12 | 19 | 63 | 3.3 | 0 |
| 2024 | at Mia. | L, 17-29 | 18 | 81 | 4.5 | 0 |
| 2024 | Det. | L, 34-40 | 18 | 75 | 4.2 | 2 |
| 2024 | at Ari. | L, 24-47 | 28 | 138 | 4.9 | 1 |
| 2025 | • Chi. | W, 42-38 | 34 | 200 | 5.9 | 3 |
| 2025 | Sea. | L, 3-13 | 12 | 53 | 4.4 | 0 |
| PASSING WITHOUT TRENT WILLIAMS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Com | Att | Pct | Yards | TD | Int | Sk |
| 2020 | G.B. | L, 17-34 | 22 | 35 | 62.9 | 291 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2020 | Sea. | L, 23-26 | 25 | 37 | 67.6 | 273 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2021 | Ind. | L, 18-30 | 16 | 27 | 59.3 | 181 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 2021 | at LAR | W, 27-24 | 24 | 33 | 72.7 | 340 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 2022 | LAR | W, 24-9 | 16 | 27 | 59.3 | 239 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | at Car. | W, 37-15 | 18 | 30 | 60.0 | 253 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2022 | at Atl. | L, 14-28 | 29 | 41 | 70.7 | 296 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2023 | at Min. | L, 17-22 | 21 | 30 | 70.0 | 272 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2023 | Cin. | L, 17-31 | 22 | 31 | 71.0 | 365 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 2023 | • Balt. | L, 19-33 | 26 | 46 | 56.5 | 336 | 1 | 5 | 4 |
| 2023 | • LAR | L, 20-21 | 16 | 26 | 61.5 | 189 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2024 | at G.B. | L, 10-38 | 17 | 29 | 58.6 | 199 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2024 | at Buff. | L, 10-35 | 11 | 18 | 61.1 | 94 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2024 | Chi. | W, 38-13 | 20 | 26 | 76.9 | 325 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | LAR | L, 6-12 | 14 | 31 | 45.2 | 142 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| 2024 | at Mia. | L, 17-29 | 26 | 40 | 65.0 | 313 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2024 | Det. | L, 34-40 | 30 | 40 | 75.0 | 412 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 2024 | at Ari. | L, 24-47 | 29 | 43 | 67.4 | 326 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 2025 | • Chi. | W, 42-38 | 24 | 33 | 72.7 | 303 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | Sea. | L, 3-13 | 19 | 27 | 70.4 | 127 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
—Ian Allan