San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Patriots won’t be a holiday for Kittle
Tight End Day to see Belichick focused on him
Sunday is National Tight End Day in the NFL.
And George Kittle is guaranteed to receive plenty of attention.
That’s not because of the league’s semitonguein cheek “holiday” that he helped inspire and loves to promote.
It’s due to this: The 49ers are facing the Patriots and their legendary defensiveminded head coach Bill Belichick, 68, whose game plan is likely built around containing Kittle.
Belichick is known for devising schemes that focus on taking away the opponent’s top weapon and making lesser lights beat New
England. And there’s little doubt about which player Belichick considers the most dangerous on the 49ers’ offense.
The nononsense Belichick, not given to hyperbole, offered a verbal love letter to the firstteam AllPro on Monday that lasted nearly 90 seconds. It included four uses of “great” and this: Belichick said Kittle, 27, who is four games into his fourth season, is as good as any tight end he’s coached or played against during his 21 seasons with the Patriots.
That group includes former
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, along with Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates and Jason Witten, all of whom are regarded among the best at the position in NFL history.
“I don’t think there’s a tight end in the league — and we’ve seen a lot of good ones and had a lot of good ones — but I don’t think there’s anybody in the league that does everything overall as well as he does,” Belichick said. “He just doesn’t really have any weak points at all. Just is outstanding in every phase of the game.”
Last month, Belichick had lengthy praise for the Raiders’ Darren Waller, who had 90 catches for 1,145 yards last year, saying the tight end would “definitely be a problem for us.” What happened? Waller, coming off a 12catch, 105yard performance, had two catches for nine yards in a loss to the Patriots. A week later, Pro Bowl tight end Travis Kelce of the Chiefs had three catches on seven targets for 70 yards in a win over New England, matching his lowest catch total in his past 37 games.
Raiders quarterback Derek Carr said the myriad coverages and defenders the Patriots employed against Waller were effective.
“They did a good job of making it look like a double ( team) when they weren’t doubling him,” Carr said. “They do a good job, man. And you don’t have three seconds to ( see) is he really doubling? You’ve got to play the game fast. You’ve got to make your decisions.”
Belichick has also offered a slew of compliments to Kyle Shanahan before kickoff. And he’s noted how the 49ers’ playcalling head coach has made opponents pay for devoting extra resources to stopping Kittle.
“The 49ers put him in positions that really stress the defense and make it hard,” Belichick said. “But
then they also use him somewhat as a decoy to open things up for other guys, too. If you pay too much attention to him, he creates opportunities for some of their other outstanding players. And if you don’t pay enough attention to him, then he can kill you.”
However, one of the 49ers’ other outstanding offensive players, running back Raheem Mostert, is out with an ankle injury. That leaves backups Jerick McKinnon, JaMycal Hasty and Jeff Wilson to share the backfield load. The 49ers’ top wide receivers, Deebo Samuel and
Brandon Aiyuk, are capable but aren’t true No. 1 wideouts.
That is, the Patriots ( 23), who rank ninth in total defense, are likely to have a plan that gives the 49ers’ diminished run game and stilldeveloping pass catchers opportunities while trying to put the clamps on Kittle.
It figures to be an intriguing battle on National Tight End Day, which began as a joke among Kittle and teammates two years ago but was recognized for the first time last year by the NFL. On Sunday, tight ends throughout the league will be miked up.
Kittle promoted the idea partly because he felt players at his position are overlooked.
Of course, Kittle hasn’t flown under the radar for quite some time. And he might receive more attention than ever Sunday in his first meeting against the Patriots.
“They do a bunch of different stuff on defense, whether it’s personnel or how they adjust to our personnel and our formations,” Kittle said. “It’s going to be exciting.”