SANTA CLARA -- Ask Trent Williams a simple question, he'll give you a complex answer.
This week in the 49ers locker room, a reporter asked him to size up the Ravens defense -- a boilerplate question begging for a boilerplate answer.
But Williams doesn't give boilerplate answers -- he gives incredibly thoughtful ones, because he knows football and he's generous.
Here's how he broke down the Ravens defense on Friday.
Q: What do you respect about the way the Ravens defense plays?
WILLIAMS: "John Harbaugh, he's a really hard-nosed coach and his teams reflect that. They're physical, they run to the ball, they create chaos and they play to the whistle, so they're a really good defense playing together right now. It's going to definitely be a challenge, when it looks like they're going to rush seven and then they drop guys back, I mean you have a protection call, and then a lot of times those guys hear the protection call and they know which way the center is sliding. So generally they want to drop the people towards the slide and bring the guys towards the man side. There's no calls you can make during the play or right at the snap that's going to correct any of that. They don't make it easy. It's really not common to drop your 350 pound nose tackle into the middle of the field. That's kind of where It's tricky. It's easier when the end drops, but if your end's coming and the nose drops, then it's up to the guard to have to bounce back and it's just a tough deal. That's why they do it, because teams usually don't get a chance to exploit the nose tackle in the middle of the field because they usually can make you hot."
TRANSLATION: The Ravens defense tricks offenses by overloading their protection schemes. They figure out which way the center is sliding and bring pressure from the other direction. Or they bring pressure from both edges and drop the nose tackle into zone coverage -- something no other team does. They're unique, exotic and tough to prepare for. And they're talented, too.
Should be a great game.
More must-reads: