The San Francisco 49ers caused a seismic shock against the Green Bay Packers last weekend - and one play at Lambeau Field almost caused the ground to physically shake.
As the dust settled on a chaotic and frantic game, it was a run of around five yards by Elijah Mitchell that got traction on social media.
Not because of Mitchell, however, but because of the sight of Trent Williams, the 6ft5in, 145kg left tackle sent in motion with a 10-yard running head start to leave a path of destruction in his wake.
Apart from those on the 49ers sideline, there was perhaps only one man who saw it coming and leapt out of his seat at home in excitement.
That’s because former 49ers left tackle Joe Staley, who retired in 2020 and was replaced by Williams, had been made aware by his replacement that the plan was in the works weeks ago.
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“That was amazing,” Staley explains. “I had actually interviewed Trent earlier this year and he had, off camera, brought that up to me.
“He told me he was already working on getting that play installed with Kyle and I was like, ‘oh, what did Kyle say?’
“And he said, ‘yeah, he’s going to put it in, but it’s going to be in a big game in a big moment’, so when I saw Trent report eligible I already knew what was coming.
“I jumped out of my seat and I was like, ‘oh this is going to be amazing! Watch Trent!’ And sure enough he absolutely unloaded on that guy, Rashan Gary, lifted him off his feet.”
“He’s probably the best guy you could imagine ever doing it. I can’t believe it’s legal. It’s scary even for me to even watch,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Williams in motion this week.
And Staley now wants Williams to be used as a further weapon for the 49ers to build off against the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game.
“I think there’s going to be some play actions now, let’s build that out,” Staley continues. “If I’m the co-ordinator, if I’m McDaniels or Shanahan, Trent runs like a 4.6 - run him up the sidelines, run him on a wheel route.
“Can you imagine a big, 300lb guy outrunning a linebacker to the next level? It’d be one of the most viral moments int he history of the NFL.”
Whilst he was never granted a spot in the backfield during his time as the 49ers’ left tackle, Staley knows a thing or two about being at this stage of the post-season.
He twice won the NFC Championship game to reach the Super Bowl with the 49ers, in 2012 and 2019, as well as twice falling short.
“I was fortunate to play in four of them,” Staley says of his NFC Championship game memories.
“The first one, when I think back on some of those years, especially the Harbaugh years, the difference between the first time we went there and the second time we went to the NFC Championship game was all about mindset.
“We were an extremely confident team, but we were all new to the play-offs. We had a young team and not a lot of play-off experience.
“We kind of made the moment of an NFC Championship game bigger than it was. The whole week of practice was heightened, guys thinking they had to do stuff different, had to go out of their way to make an extra play, the extra block instead of just relying on what had got us to that point.
“I remember the next year when we went to Atlanta, same basic team, and we had a night before the game player’s only meeting.
“We all got there, the leaders of the team gave our thoughts but the overall message was that the lesson we learnt the year before was just to trust and believe in ourselves.
“We went in with a lot of confidence not to do the crazy things, don’t be the player you’re not because it’s been good enough all year.
“I think that’s exciting about this team right now - they have that identity and they have enough guys from 2019, from that Super Bowl losing team, that understood that.
“They have confidence in what they’re doing, they know their identity, and the message going into this game has to be not to make it more than what it is.”
Finding that identity has not been easy, however, with the 49ers’ match-up with the Rams in November seen as a turning point after unlocking the running game with wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
Now, Staley reckons the 49ers, who are one of six NFL teams who have been granted access to International Home Marketing Areas (IHMA) in the UK, are well-placed to reach another Super Bowl.
“I think first and foremost for the 9ers this season it’s been a tale of two seasons,” Staley says.
“The first half they were trying to figure out their identity and try to figure out who they are as a team. And it changes every year, even if the roster stays the same.
“As a player, it’s always a very unique situation for everyone to go through to try and work out the pieces that we have and how we can best utilise them.
“It didn’t really happen until week 10, in the Rams game the first time, where they utilised Deebo Samuel in the run game for the first time and that opened up a lot of different things.”
Now, Staley is confident the 49ers’ physicality can see them continue their dominant run of six straight wins over their rivals when it matters most.
“I think they match-up really well against the Rams, because they have their identity already figured out, and their identity gives the Rams trouble,” he states.
“They’re a physical team, not just the up front match-ups but really across the board - the receivers, the running backs, the defensive backs - everyone blocks, everyone tackles, everyone loves contact.
“I think that gives the Rams trouble because they’re a speed match-up team. They don’t have the full back in their offence, they don’t run sets with two or three tight ends, the DBs struggle with guys coming up and blocking.
“That, more than anything, has been why they’ve had success the last six games against the Rams and I do see that continuing.
“We talk about quarterback match-ups and skill players but football, why we all love it, is it’s the ultimate team sport, it takes all 11 players on every play to do their job and the 49ers are built that way.”
Watch San Francisco 49ers travel to Los Angeles Rams for the NFC Championship on NFL Gamepass and Sky Sports NFL, live at 11:30pm this Sunday 30 January.
