Kittle ready to be star attraction on ‘National Tight End Day’; Raiders look to contain Texans’ Watson.
SANTA CLARA >> National Tight End Day certainly has a devoted frontman in the 49ers’ George Kittle for today’s league-wide, affably unofficial celebration.
After all, this pseudo-holiday started as friendly banter among a mic’d-up Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo before last year’s season opener. Garoppolo merely tried firing up the 49ers’ tight ends, and now he marvels how it blew up into a Nfl-promoted gag.
“It might not get as much spotlight, but the things the tight end position can do and what it does in all levels of football, it’s one of a kind and very unique,” Kittle said. “That’s why I think it’s about time tight ends everywhere got the respect they deserve.”
NFL Films got on board, enlisted Kittle as the tight ends’ spokesman, and produced an eight-minute hype video for the
inaugural National Tight End Day
“Look out Avocado Day. Look out Festivus. National Tight End Day is coming for you, baby,” Kittle said in the NFL Films’ promo.
Kittle admittedly treats every game like the star attraction he is for the 49ers (6-0). That especially will be the case as they host the Carolina Panthers (4-2). Fans will receive a Kittle bobblehead (he approved after a couple tries), and they can buy National Tight End Day T-shirts that benefit the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital at his alma mater.
On the field, Kittle will try to extend what he calls a “fun” stat: he’s caught all 15 passes targeted to him on third down this season, converting 11 into first downs.
“When you watch the way they use Kittle, it’s a lot like we use Greg Olsen,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. “This is a guy that can attack you right through the middle of your defense and go vertical. This is a guy that can work laterally and catch the ball underneath. And this is a guy that can work outside.”
Kittle leads the 49ers with 34 receptions for 376 yards and one touchdown. To help shoulder that offensive load, the 49ers traded Tuesday for wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders.
As for the Panthers’ Olsen, the 13th-year veteran rank fifths among all-time tight ends with 688 career receptions. In the NFL Films’ hype video, a mic’dup Olsen fittingly says in a past game: “It’s a great chance for us to showcase us. Let’s go.”
Tight ends aside, here is what the 49ers must do to stay unbeaten:
1. PROTECT THE POCKET >> Garoppolo, with only eight sacks, has proved elusive on
his rebuilt left knee. He’s yet to face a collective pass rush as productive as Carolina’s.
The Panthers lead the league with 27 sacks (a franchise record through six games). Seven players have at least two sacks, led by Mario Addison (6 ½), Brian Burns (4 ½; one of Nick Bosa’s top competitors for rookie of the year honors), Venron Butler (3), Gerald Mccoy (2 ½).
Assuming Joe Staley (fibula fracture) misses his fifth straight game and delays his return to Halloween night in Arizona, then Justin Skule will continue to protect Garoppolo’s blind side, and Daniel Brunskill will make his third start in place of Mike Mcglinchey.
2. SHOWCASE SANDERS OR NOT? >> Sanders’ speed, moves and veteran guile will be arresting when you first see him in that No. 17, all-white throwback jersey. He definitely upgrades the wide receiver corps and will bring a new look (and perhaps new routes) to the 25th-ranked pass offense.
So how much do the 49ers use him? Do they completely bench, say, Dante Pettis, or Deebo Samuel, or Marquise Goodwin? That’s unlikely, for now, but Sanders should see a respectable workload. He’s familiar with the scheme because the Denver Broncos installed a mirrored version this year. No 49er has more than one touchdown catch this season, and Sanders surely is eager to get in the end zone. His two touchdowns this season came in the first two games.
3. MATCH UP ON MCCAFFREY >> No opposing running back has eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark. Christian Mccaffrey is averaging 103 rushing yards — and 50.8 receiving yards — per game.
The onus on stopping him could fall on 49ers linebackers Kwon Alexander and Fred Warner. Sure, the 49ers’ defensive line has done well in allowing
90 rushing yards per game (tied-7th in league), but Alexander and Warner have to make sure Mccaffrey doesn’t breach the second level like he’s prone to do.
Opponents have opened the past two games by repeatedly running at the 49ers, unwilling to take on the No. 1 pass defense. With Mccaffrey, and with a young QB, look for that copy-cat strategy to resume.
Alexander is the fourthhighest graded linebacker in coverage this season, according to Pro Football Focus. Because the 49ers’ defense is so successful in creating stops, he and Warner have combined for just 63 tackles — two shy of Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly’s total.
4. END QB’S HOT STREAK >> Allen is 4-0 since replacing an injured Cam Newton (foot), and, along this breakout effort, he’s yet to have any of his 122 passes intercepted. “The kid’s got a good knack about him,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said.
Allen fumbled on the first possession of his first two starts, losing 4 of 5 fumbles in those games, to which defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said they were “unlucky” fumbles. Allen did not lose his only fumble over the past two wins.
The 49ers have at least one takeaway per game, totaling 13 overall that have resulted in 52 of their 156 points. Dee Ford and Deforest Buckner each have forced two fumbles.
Allen is completing 65.6 percent of his passes, averaging a respectable 7.4 yards per attempt. Said Shanahan: “He’s hopped in and ran their offense very well, and when they’ve asked him to make plays, he’s been very accurate at throwing to their guys.”
5. BEWARE OF SCORNED SAFETY >> Eric Reid, his career flourishing again with the Panthers, is not happy how his 49ers tenure ended in 2017. Surely you recall the
former 49ers safety-turnedlinebacker-turned-safety. He sure does.
“I remember they changed my position in my contract year. I remember they released Navorro Bowman, who led the NFL in tackles the year before, and asked me to play his position, so that will be on my mind,” Reid told Panthers reporters on Wednesday.
Reid made a two-game cameo at linebacker, returned to safety after a Jimmie Ward injury, then left in free agency and eventually landed with the 2018 Panthers in Week 4. Saleh’s response: “To move him, it’s very hard for the player, but at the same time, it gave him a chance to show how versatile he was. That’s why he’s still in the league. He’s tremendously smart and versatile.”
Reid remains at the forefront of a social-equality push that he and former 49ers Colin Kaepernick started in 2016 with protests during the national anthem. The 49ers publicly supported their efforts, but Reid complained to Panthers media about the “treatment” they received and “the way they run their organization.”
• Wide receiver Jordan Matthews was released so the team could activate long snapper Kyle Nelson ahead of today’s game. Nelson just completed a 10-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy, the result of unknowingly taking a tainted supplement.
Six games of that suspension carried over to this season, during which the 49ers used three different long snappers. Robbie Gould has missed a careerhigh six field-goal attempts, but he made his final three last Sunday in a 9-0 win at Washington.
Matthews only played three offensive snaps in that game, his 49ers debut after being inactive the previous two games since re-signing.