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The San Francisco 49ers are still rolling after their dominating 42-19 road win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football in Week 13.
Plenty of juicy storylines have emerged from what has become a new rivalry between two of the NFC’s top teams. Trent Williams, the 49ers’ dominant left tackle, added to the animosity by calling out the Eagles fan base.
“That’s one thing that I vividly remember from my years in Washington is that the crowd, although they are loud and they are hostile, one thing about it is they do turn on the team pretty quick,” Williams told KNBR’s Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher in a December 5 interview. “So my message to my guys is just: [Work] the noise early, and it’ll be quiet late.”
San Francisco 49ers Made Philly Fans Turn on Eagles
It didn’t take long for the fans in Philadelphia to prove Williams’ point.
Williams said he saw fans leaving the game well before it was over, after the 49ers scored on six straight possessions.
“And third, fourth quarter comes around, you started to see guys starting to beat the traffic,” Williams said on KNBR. “So when you go into Philly, that’s the only way to plan. … You got to be able to work in the noise early, and then you make the plays you’re supposed to make, you take the crowd out of it pretty quick.”
The 49ers were ahead only 14-6 at halftime, but the fans at Lincoln Financial Field were already booing the home team even though the Eagles had won five games — including four in a row heading into Week 13 — when trailing at halftime.
But Williams had seen similar scenes play out many times before during his nine seasons playing for the then-Washington Redskins.
“And I was really pleased when we started to hear them, and kind of knew that we was turning it into our home stadium, slowly but surely,” the 49ers big man added.
Williams isn’t the only player to criticize Philly fans. According to an anonymous player survey published by The Athletic in November, Eagles fans are the most annoying in the NFL, barely edging out the Dallas Cowboys‘ fan base.
One anonymous player called Philly fans “just loud, rude and obnoxious,” according to the story.
Another said: “They just swear they’re the biggest football gurus on Earth.”
Trent Williams Explains Why Seattle Isn’t The Same As Philly
Williams, a two-time All-Pro and 10-time Pro Bowler, likened playing in Philadelphia to playing on the road against the Seattle Seahawks, whose crowd has been dubbed “The 12th Man.” But Williams did make a distinction between the two fan bases.
“Unlike Philly, Seattle won’t boo their players before halftime,” Williams noted. “But Philly, they got a short attention span, and those guys, they only got a few quarters to impress. And if they don’t, you’re going to start to hear the boobirds early.”
The 49ers will face the Seahawks at home in Week 14 after having beat them 31-13 on November 23.
With five weeks left in the season, the 49ers have a shot at capturing the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, which would the road to the Super Bowl would go through Lincoln Financial Field again this season.
At least one pundit likes San Francisco’s chances of overtaking Philadelphia for the top seed.
“After the 49ers’ big win over the Philadelphia Eagles, I am certain that the 49ers will be the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoff picture,” said NBC Sports Bay Area’s Donte Whitner. “Every season, the objective is to make the playoffs by any means. If you can get the No. 1 seed, it gives you the easiest path to the Super Bowl.”
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