Even without George Kittle’s three touchdowns, the 49ers would have easily handled their rivals on Sunday Night Football in Levi’s Stadium.
But Kittle, the four-time Pro Bowl tight end, set a career-high with three touchdown catches as San Francisco destroyed Dallas, 42-10. The game was such a rout, the 49ers sat their starters for almost the entire fourth quarter.
Kittle, who turns 30 on Monday, floated to the top of an unrivaled skill position arsenal that has been wrecking defenses all season. He snagged three of Brock Purdy’s four touchdown passes and led both teams in receiving yards with 67.
After the game, Kittle joked that legendary 49ers tight end Vernon Davis urged him to tie his record for three touchdowns, so he told Purdy to feed him. He hadn’t had a three-touchdown game since he was a dominant seventh grade running back in Iowa, Kittle added.
On the biggest stage of the regular season, against San Francisco’s historic rival, Kittle dominated like it was Pop Warner.
“I tell George all the time: ‘Prime time George,’” receiver Brandon Aiyuk said postgame. “There have been a couple games I’ve played with him – Thursday night, Sunday Night, Monday Night, whatever the case may be — where he comes up big. Today was just another case of that.”
Kittle scored the first of San Francisco’s season-high 42 points on the opening drive, when Purdy scrambled out to his right as he felt the blitz from his blind side. Kittle, sensing the quarterback’s freelancing, found open space in the back right corner of the end zone.
That marked Kittle’s first touchdown of the season. Through four weeks, he’d averaged just 37 yards per game and was limited to just nine yards on one reception last week against Arizona.
San Francisco’s game plan against Dallas featured him heavily, though. It even included a trick play for him after a turnover in the second quarter.
As soon as Purdy relayed the play call in the huddle — “Toss 18 flea flicker” — Kittle lit up. He thought “100%” it would go for a touchdown, he said at the postgame podium.
The Niners have been walking through the trick play since last year, when assistant head coach Anthony Lynn suggested it. They tried it in the fourth quarter of last year’s NFC Championship game; only then, the Niners were down all of their quarterbacks, so it was McCaffrey taking the snap and eventually attempting a throw.
The running back’s toss landed 35 yards downfield in a vacant area.
“It didn’t look as good (last year),” Kyle Shanahan said after Sunday’s win.
This time, the hot potato sequence could go: Purdy to McCaffrey to Samuel to Purdy to Kittle. It worked perfectly, shooting the tight end wide open into the secondary.
San Francisco planned on calling the gadget play against the Cowboys, but had more confidence doing so after they saw Detroit successfully run it for rookie tight end Sam LaPorta earlier in the day. In Levi’s Stadium, a different tight end out of Iowa scored.
Kittle doesn’t always get to make flashy plays like that 38-yard touchdown. But he always makes an impact.
“Every week he impresses me,” star running back Christian McCaffrey said. “You look at what he can do with the ball in his hands — he can have three touchdowns — but you look at what he does in the run game and how well he blocks, and just his attitude, his character.”
For Kittle’s hat trick, the 49ers stole a play that the Patriots ran with success last week against the Cowboys, the tight end said. The play action setup required a perfect chop block from McCaffrey, which he delivered to buy Purdy time. The young quarterback drifted out of the pocket to his left, lofting a pass to Kittle behind Dallas’ safeties.
After Kittle secured the catch, he motioned with his fingers to signal each of his three touchdowns.
Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who threw three interceptions, described his team’s loss as “maybe the most humbling game” he’s experienced. He said the Cowboys got “punched in the mouth.”
The Niners dominated in all three phases. But Kittle’s career game supplied much of the humbling and haymakers.
“I had a feeling George was going to have a big game,” fullback Kyle Juszczyk said postgame. “He hadn’t been in the end zone yet, and I knew when it happened, it was going to happen in bunches.”
