Sunday’s NFC Championship Game between the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles was tough to watch. The Niners saw their only two active quarterbacks go down, including rookie starter Brock Purdy six offensive plays into the game, in a 31-7 loss that sends the Eagles to the Super Bowl.
Josh Johnson, San Francisco’s fourth quarterback this year, left the game early in the third quarter after being evaluated for a concussion. The Niners couldn’t move the ball on offense, triggering a since-deleted tweet from New York Jets defensive lineman Quinnen Williams that’s sure to stir up some talk.
New York Jets DL Quinnen Williams’ deleted tweet might cause some issues with the team
The Jets had one of the best starts to a season in years and remained in the playoff hunt for much of the season. Led by Williams, the defense was, by far, the strength of a team that jumped out to a 7-4 start before dropping their final six games.
The Jets struggled offensively throughout the season as quarterback Zach Wilson was benched twice because of his ineffectiveness. Neither Wilson, Mike White, nor Joe Flacco could fix an offense that failed to score a touchdown in the final three weeks of the season, scoring a combined 15 points in that span.
During Sunday’s 49ers-Eagles game, Purdy left the game with what is now known as a torn UCL (elbow). He was forced back into action after Johnson’s injury. Purdy later said he couldn’t throw the ball beyond five-to-10 yards, and the Niners knew it. Except for two short passes that totaled four yards, Purdy handed the ball off. Philadelphia keyed on the run and held the Niners scoreless the rest of the way.
San Francisco’s offensive woes triggered a since-deleted tweet by Williams.
“Now Bosa see what I been going threw (sic), No offense,” he tweeted.
The tweet was apparently directed toward 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa, who anchored one of the NFL’s best defenses this season. Bosa and the 49ers did what they could defensively but got very little help on the other side because they simply ran out of healthy quarterbacks. Williams likened his own team’s offense to one that played without a capable quarterback, which likely won’t sit well with members of the Jets offensive unit.
Williams earned First-Team All-Pro in 2022
It’s easy to see why Williams would be frustrated. Like the 49ers on Sunday, the Jets defense played well most of the year but got very little help on the other side of the ball. The big difference is the 49ers didn’t have any quarterbacks physically able to play. Williams put his team in the same category as two quarterbacks who were injured and couldn’t play. He then tweeted about it.
Why he deleted it is unknown. Maybe it was because of the embarrassing grammatical error, or maybe he came to his senses that it’s likely going to cause some issues with the team.
Williams is heading into the final year of his rookie deal. At the end of the season, he told the team if a new contract isn’t worked out by April, he’ll skip voluntary workouts, according to The New York Post.
He finished the season with 12 sacks in 16 games. He made his first Pro Bowl and was named First-Team All-Pro.
