George Kittle — Week 4: Fifty-Nine After the Catch

17 to 14, 49ers, two 25 left against the Broncos, second and eight at the San Francisco 44, one snap after Denver called its first timeout. Brock Purdy threw short left to George Kittle three yards behind the line of scrimmage, and Kittle ran 59 yards after the catch, a 56-yard touchdown. +5.5 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 15 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. Only the fumbled Denver punt return in the third quarter moved the game more. 24 to 14 after the kick.

The line: six targets, four catches, 70 yards, one touchdown, +4.6 expected points on the targets. Before the touchdown, three catches for 14 yards: three on second and nine in the first quarter, four on first and 10 from the San Francisco 12 in the second, and seven on second and eight at the Denver 26, on the drive after the fumble that ended in Deebo Samuel's touchdown. The two incompletions were the deepest throws his way, 22 yards in the air with 41 seconds left in the half and 15 on second and nine on the first drive of the second half.

Six targets tied Samuel for second on the 49ers, behind Mike Evans's eight.

Back in June the preview called Kittle an underrated top-three tight end by per-game production, with a repaired Achilles tendon in his tenth season as the thing nobody could project. Weeks 1 through 3 were 16 targets, 12 catches, a hundred 74 yards and three touchdowns. Four games now: 22 targets, 16 catches, 244 yards, four touchdowns, and four games played on the tendon. Sunday added his longest catch of the season.

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_Data via nflverse._