Scott Ostler:
The only person who could stop 49ers tight end George Kittle on Sunday was his play-caller, Mike Shanahan.
The Broncos stopped George Kittle stone-cold in the second half Sunday, with an assist from Kyle Shanahan, and felt pretty good about that.
“I think we did a good job taking him away in the second half,” said Denver safety Su’a Cravens.
Yes, and the federal posse did a good job tracking down John Wilkes Booth.
In the first half of the 49ers’ 20-14 win over the Broncos, Kittle did OK.
The 49ers’ second-year tight end caught seven passes for 210 yards, including an 85-yard touchdown.
That’s juuust short of the NFL record for receiving yards in a game by a tight end, 214 yards, set by Shannon Sharpe. Kittle might have had more, but twice a Denver defensive back was flagged for holding him.
You can’t stop the great ones, you can only hope to contain ’em. Which the Broncos did in the second half, as Kittle was targeted once, an overthrow.
So the only person who stopped Kittle all day was Shanahan, who apologized twice to Kittle after the game for not getting him one more measly, dinky, stinkin’ pass.
Kittle put all kinds of records and milestones in the books. He’s only the fourth 1,000-yard reception man on the 49ers since 2003 (Michael Crabtree had 1,105 yards in ’12 and Anquan Boldin 1,179 in ’13 and 1,062 in ’14).
The only person who might have had a shot at covering Kittle in his smokin’ first half would have been Deion Sanders, so it was fitting that Kittle’s street dress Sunday was a Sanders No. 21 Falcons jersey.
Kittle’s style is different from the famed cornerback, but their MO is the same: Whooo!
“He’s a guy that I know loves to play football,” Kittle said, “and he had the most fun playing it.”
Kittle didn’t get that tightend record, but his big day will pay dividends. I’m pretty sure he will be ushered to the VIP table the next time he visits the Panda Express in Santa Clara.
During training camp, the 49ers’ tight end told about a visit to that eatery with teammate Jimmy Garoppolo, not long after the quarterback closed last season with five straight wins.
“The second we walked in,” Kittle said, “everyone looked up and it was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, that’s Jimmy!’ I was like (waving), ‘I’m George.’ ”
Next time: Please step to the front of the line, Mr. Kittle. And bring your friend, the guy with the dimples.
Kittle doesn’t have to wave anymore, on the field or off. On Sunday, the second-year nobody cemented his rep as one of the premier pass receivers in the league.
“He’s been arguably the best tight end in football,” cornerback Richard Sherman said after the game. “No disrespect to (Kansas City’s Travis) Kelce or Gronk (New England’s Rob Gronkowski) or any of those other guys that are playing good football. ... He makes an impact every game.”
Sherman kept raving: “He goes out there full speed and plays as hard as anybody I’ve ever met, and not just in the pass game. He’ll pancake guys, he’ll run and never complain about anything. He can block 20 times in a row and not complain. He’ll catch 230 (yards in) passes and be the same guy. It’s infectious.”
Kittle sneaked up on the league last season, a farmer’s son who played at Iowa and was drafted in the fifth round. In four years at Iowa, Kittle played just 25 games and averaged 29.5 yards per game in pass-reception yardage.
The Warriors’ Draymond Green famously can recite all the players drafted ahead of him, and uses that for motivation. Kittle doesn’t even try memorizing the 145 men drafted ahead of him. He uses that brain power to grasp Shanahan’s vast playbook.
Kittle had a 52-yard reception to close the first quarter Sunday to key a field-goal drive alive. His 85-yarder came in the second quarter. After he caught Mullens’ pass at the 49ers’ 30, Denver defenders closed on Kittle, but they bounced off him like bullets off Superman.
“The thing I think I can say he’s doing better than any tight end I’ve ever had,” Shanahan said, “is what he’s doing after the catch . ... When that ball is in the air, the play is just starting. He’s trying to catch it and he runs angry and he runs confidently, (like he) expects to score on every look.”
Kittle seems like the least angry man in football, but there is anger and there is anger.
“You definitely have to play angry,” he said, “with the mind-set that I’m not going to get tackled by you unless you want to tackle me . ... They didn’t want to tackle on that specific play.”
Of course, Kittle was crushed that he went catchless in the second half. Asked what happened, he broke it down like this: “We won.”