One of George Kittle‘s many throwaway lines — and he’s got a million of ’em — is that someone is good at football. It may be a teammate, sometimes it’s an opponent, and he uses it in nearly every media setting. The 49ers tight end said it about Brock Purdy Thursday night after a 36-24 road win over the Seattle Seahawks.
It’s not one he uses on himself, although his teammates surely feel that way after Kittle punctured the 49ers’ red zone woes with two key touchdown receptions that helped prevent a third division implosion.
With the 49ers leading 16-3 at halftime on the strength of three Matthew Wright field goals and a 76-yard Purdy-to-Deebo Samuel touchdown, the 49ers were facing a third-and-3 from the Seattle 10-yard line. The 49ers, who were a woeful 40 percent in the red zone coming into the game, had gotten as far as the 7 and the 17 and kicked field goals.
Surely another field goal was to come. Except this time, Purdy found Kittle under tight coverage from safety Justin Love and threw a strike for the 10-yard score and a 23-3 lead. The only thing better than the throw was the catch, which Kittle made look easy and somehow got both feet in bounds for the score.
The score had been set up by a 29-yard Purdy to Kittle completion along the left sideline where he was left unguarded.
Kittle, who turned 31 Wednesday, said the touchdown was a 3-year-old play they use on third down in the red zone.
“We run it all the time in practice,” Kittle said. “They were in a real funky coverage against it but Brock put it in the most perfect spot possible. Our tight ends coach Brian Fleury makes me do toe-taps on the sideline twice a week and that helped out a little bit.”
Later, with the 49ers leading 23-17, Purdy hit Kittle, once again tightly guarded, on a 9-yard touchdown over the middle with 6:20 to play that essentially put the game away.
Purdy had talked during the week about being more aggressive in the end zone, and both throws were into tight windows.
“Brock’s good at football,” Kittle said.
It’s also worth nothing that Kittle, in his eighth season, is building a potential Hall of Fame resume, boosting his career numbers to 488 receptions for 6,557 yards and 43 touchdowns all while being one of the league’s best blockers at his position.
Purdy is good at football, but he’s pretty smart, too, when it comes to knowing where to go with the ball when your team can’t seem to break through inside the 20-yard line.
“The first one, I saw him have leverage on the outside and I just needed to give him some space,” Purdy said. “He did a great job breaking down and being at the right depth at his landmark. For me it’s about trusting him and laying it on the sideline, knowing my guy can go get it. The fact that he kept his two feet in was crazy.”
Purdy’s belief in Kittle was also huge on the second score, which came on third-and-4.
“It was pretty tight coverage, he had a safety coming down on him and he cross-faced at the window,” Purdy said. “Both touchdowns were just a trust factor. It’s something we continue to grow at with the number of games we’ve played together and tonight it showed really well.”
Kittle, whose ability to find the camera knows no bounds, even got to leap into the stands to visit his wife Claire after the second score, as well as on a 6-yard run by Kyle Juszczyk on the 49ers’ final touchdown.
For as much as Kittle plays to the media, his boundless enthusiasm and positive vibes make him the star no one resents because he seems to enjoy it almost as much as he does playing the sport he grew up loving. He touched on that when talking about his first touchdown.
“I’ve played a lot of football,” Kittle said. “Those are the plays I’ve been pretending to have since I was a kid with my dad in the backyard. Those are the plays you dream of and I just wanted to have the opportunity to do that tonight. Whether it’s practice reps or visualization, that’s what prepared me for the moment.”
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Having joined the 49ers as a rookie when Shanahan was named head coach, Kittle has been through rough starts and tough games as well as unforgettable wins. He’s experienced euphoria as well as bitter defeat. Those experiences helped when Seattle climbed back into the game at 23-17 during a game they trailed 23-3.
“We’ve been in a lot of big games, we’ve won a lot of big games,” Kittle said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that have been here four years plus. We’ve lost some big games. We are experienced in the moment. We try our best not to let it get too big for us. When we get new guys out there, when they feel the confidence from the guys that have been there, they fit right in and have confidence as well.”