Kyle Williams On Getting Death Threats: “there’s A Line. These Guys Are Passionate About Their Teams. You Never Know What Somebody Will Do.”

There’s no sugar coating the fact that the New York Giants were handed their last 10 points in the NFC Championship game and a trip to Super Bowl XLVI due to fumbles by Kyle Williams in the 4th quarter and overtime.Now let’s remember football is a team game. The San Francisco 49ers have come out publicly to defend Williams, who is really down right now to say the least. The 49ers defense didn’t deserve to go down like they did in overtime to the New York Giants. Williams had a tough time facing his teammates after all the hard work everyone had put in all year to just have it slip away like it did on that rainy day in Candlestick Park.Give Kyle Williams some credit here. He didn’t back down from a radio appearance despite having death threats bestowed upon him for his performance last Sunday. Williams may be the goat from the NFC Championship game, but he knows he is man enough to rise from these tough times. Let’s hope he does.

Kyle Williams joined The Dan Patrick Show to discuss any positive news over the past 48 hours, watching highlights of the NFC Championship game at this point, the first fumbled punt touching his body or not, trying to do too much with the last punt in overtime, his thought process when he went to the 49ers sideline after his second fumbled punt, the death threats thrown his way and his father, Kenny Williams, advice to him after the game.

Has there been anything good that has happened for the last 24-48 hours for you?

“I wouldn’t say good exactly, but there’s comfort involved when your teammates come to your back and kind of give you a pat on the back and let you know that it’s not all on you and we win and lose as a team. It makes it a little better, but still not good.”

Have you watched the highlights?

“I still haven’t seen it. No I haven’t.”

Did you feel like on the first punt that you touched the ball?

“You know I still don’t feel like I did, but talking to some people close to me they said that on TV it kind of looked like it might have nicked me or not. Even talking to one of the refs on the field during the game he thought that it didn’t touch me, so it’s one of those plays where really when it comes down to it I gotta get away from the ball. Making it that close was my error and if it did or didn’t touch me it played out the way that it did, so you kind of gotta chalk it up as it touching me.”

Did you try to make up for it with the last punt to try to make something happen?

“Well I think any time you are back there as a punt returner I think every punt returner in the league will vouch for this too is that every time you are back there and get an opportunity to make a play you want to do that, especially in the situation we were in and that we were searching for a play. It’s one of those situations in overtime where they were getting stopped. We were getting stopped. It wasn’t really going anywhere. Any time you get a chance to make a play you want to do that. I wouldn’t say I was trying to do too much or anything. It was just a matter of circumstance and football happens.”

What are you thinking in overtime after the second fumble as you are going to the sideline?

“A million things really. The number one thing I was thinking about was facing my teammates and having to look these guys in the eye. These guys have busted their tail all year to get to where we were, busted their tail right alongside me and to have to look at them and know that I might have costed them their shot, but again just having each and every one of those guys come to my side and tell me it wasn’t on me. It’s really tough for them. They really do that in a situation like that especially when what happened did happen. For them to be able to do that says a lot about them.”

Death threats?

“Yeah. It got to that point. Again, that is one of those things where there’s a line. It’s probably some guy that was talking and probably not too serious about it, but when you get something like that, especially me? I’ve never had to deal with anything like that before, so when you get something like that you are going to want to totally ignore it just because somebody could be serious about it. These guys are passionate about their teams. You never know what somebody will do when they are put in that situation. It’s one of those things you want to pay attention to, but you also don’t want to sit there and think about it all the time and fear for your life.”

Your dad Kenny Williams (White Sox GM)? Did he call you or did you call him after the game?

“He was actually right there. He was the first person I saw when I got out of the locker room and he was the kind of person that let me know what was coming and first thing he said to me was, ‘Are you tough enough? Are you man enough to bounce back from this?’ I think he had no doubt when I said that I was. I think he knew it. I think my whole family knew it. Again, it’s one of those things where it definitely sucks. There’s nothing good about it, but you gotta kind of learn from it and move forward if you expect to be anything going forward.”