At the end of a nine-yard punt return with just over three minutes left in the third quarter Sunday, Kyle Williams took a big hit from Giants safety Tyler Sash.

Williams didn’t fumble on this return. Instead, he got back up and stayed on the field for San Francisco’s next offensive series. Quarterback Alex Smith faked a reverse to Williams on the Niners’ first-down play.

So, what’s the big deal?

After the game, Giants wide receiver Thomas told the Newark Star-Ledger that New York targeted Williams due to his history of concussions and he pointed to Sash’s hit on Williams as proof their game plan worked. After the collision with Sash, Williams had fumbles on punt returns in the fourth quarter and overtime, leading to the Giants’ final 10 points in a 20-17 win.

“He’s had a lot of concussions,” Thomas said. “We were just like, ‘We gotta put a hit on that guy.’ … Sash did a great job hitting him early and he looked kind of dazed when he got up. I feel like that made a difference and he coughed it up.”

This New York Magazine story on New York’s targeting of Williams also includes this quote from Jacquian Williams, who forced Kyle Williams’ fumble in overtime.

“… The thing is, we knew he had four concussions, so that was our biggest thing, was to take him outta the game,” Jacquian Williams said.

How would the Giants know Williams had four concussions? That’s what Williams told reporters on Jan. 2 in his first comments since he suffered a concussion on Dec. 24 at Seattle.

The Giants players were clearly made aware of this information, but there was no evidence of headhunting Sunday.

I reviewed Williams’ punt returns and didn’t notice any hits that would be deemed illegal or out of the ordinary, including the shot from Sash in the third quarter. The tackle is somewhat obscured by other players on the TV replay, but Sash appeared to hit Williams legally in the upper body while Williams was falling to the ground.

Did that hit knock Williams woozy, as Thomas maintained? There’s no telling, but there’s also no evidence that Williams fumbled twice because he’d suffered a concussion.

There was one instance in which Williams showed horrendous judgment – running to his right to make a a diving grab of a Steve Weatherford punt in the third quarter. But that occurred about 10 minutes before he took the hit from Sash.