George Kittle — Week 3: Six Catches, Two Touchdowns
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Monday, Sep 28
Kittle caught 6 of 7 targets for 82 yards and two touchdowns, every catch a first down: 10 yards with 8:46 left for 29–20, and 20 yards with 1:36 left for 35–27, two snaps after his holding call took a Brock Purdy touchdown run off the board, in a 36–30 win over the Cardinals.
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29 to 27, 49ers, a minute 52 left, second and 13 at the Arizona 45. Brock Purdy ran 45 yards into the end zone, and the flag was holding on George Kittle at the Arizona 10. The touchdown came off the board and the ball went to the 20. Two snaps later, second and 10 there with a minute 36 left, Purdy threw deep right to Kittle for 20 yards and the touchdown. +4.7 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — the second-largest figure on any 49ers play of the day. 35 to 27, 36 after the kick, and Arizona's field goal on the next drive left it at six.
The line: seven targets, six catches, 82 yards, two touchdowns, six first downs — every catch moved the chains — +10.2 expected points on the targets, the most on the team. 54 air yards, 30 after the catch. The catches went 12, 11, 18, 11, 10 20. The 12 was first and 10 at the Arizona 35 with 42 seconds left in the first quarter, and Mike Evans scored on the next snap. The 11 was San Francisco's first snap from scrimmage of the second half. The 18 was third and two at the Arizona 37 three snaps later, to the 19, on the drive that ended in Christian McCaffrey's touchdown. The next 11 came on the first snap after Arizona had cut it to 23 to 20, with 13 oh six left, and that drive ended in his first touchdown: first and 10 at the 10, short middle, eight 46 left, +2.0 and 4.8 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. The one incompletion was second and 10 at the San Francisco 47 late in the first half. Two targets before halftime, five after.
Seven targets led the 49ers; Mike Evans had six, all before he left injured in the second quarter, and McCaffrey five.
Back in June the preview's read was that a top-three tight end by per-game production was being underrated, and that nobody could project a repaired Achilles tendon in his tenth season. Week 1 was five targets in the first 18 minutes and nothing after; Week 2 was four targets, all after halftime, and the episode said the first week was a night and not a pattern. Sunday adds five second-half targets and two touchdowns. Three games: 16 targets, 12 catches, a hundred 74 yards, three touchdowns, and three games played on the tendon. Three games settle little. San Francisco is home to the Broncos on Sunday the fourth.
_Data via nflverse._
When George Kittle's week moves the numbers, you'll know — every episode, in one weekly email.
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