As the San Francisco 49ers beat the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night, 20-10, it featured another impeccable performance from star running back Christian McCaffrey. It also featured the return of 49ers tight end George Kittle, who made a prediction regarding McCaffrey that is likely to come true.
In the win over the Falcons, McCaffrey rushed for 129 yards on 24 carries with two touchdowns to go along with seven catches for 72 yards. When talking about the outing, Kittle would say after the game that he made a goal that McCaffrey would win NFC Player of the Week for this game and while it hasn't been announced yet, he's on his way to.
“Every Saturday night, our tight end coach [Brian] Fleury wants all the tight ends to get up in front of the room and set a goal,” Kittle said, according to ESPN. “Anywhere from dominate the edges, tight end touchdown, whatever goals. And my goal this week was CMC [to be] NFC Player of the Week. And if I actually called that, that might be the best guess of all time.”
McCaffrey is in the midst of another productive season as he has 465 yards on the ground to go along with three touchdowns to go along with 516 yards through the air and three scores.
“He's huge,” San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He's the most consistent player I've been around. He just allows you to stay on track. He gets every yard in the run game and more and what he does in the pass game … it's rare that you're going to throw a ball to him and not get a completion.”
49ers' Christian McCaffrey on George Kittle's impact
Looking at the tight end's outing, it was largely forgettable, as the 49ers star broke the record of recording zero catches in the game with only two targets. For people that don't always look at the statsheet, they know the impact Kittle has between the lines as McCaffrey explains.
“It's a different ballgame when he's in there,” McCaffrey said. “Even when he doesn't have a big statistical game, the attention that he draws opens so much up … When you've got guys like that on the field, just their presence alone strikes a lot of fear in coordinators and so you have to keep eyes on them.”
At any rate, San Francisco is now 5-2 as they face the Houston Texans next Sunday.
