George Kittle enjoyed a standout season last year, hauling in a career-high 11 touchdowns. However, this season, the San Francisco 49ers' tight end has yet to find the end zone, with just one reception for nine yards in Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals. This marked his lowest single-game yardage total since Week 3 of his rookie 2017 campaign.
As far as Kittle is concerned, that's just fine so long as the 49ers keep racking up victories. As it stands, his team is one of only two undefeated squads in the NFL.
"Niners are winning the football games," Kittle said Thursday after being asked about his modest reception total on Sunday. "I'm playing well in the run game, and as long as I'm playing to my standard, I can only control what I can control. If Kyle's calling plays—we have six guys who, when they touch the ball, you don't know what's going to happen. They can score touchdowns, they can break tackles."
Kittle is fully committed to doing whatever his coaches ask of him, whether it be hauling in touchdowns or blocking a defender. This may not sit well with some fantasy football owners, but no one inside the 49ers locker room is complaining.
"I've never played the Madden game or any of that stuff," offensive line and run game coordinator Chris Foerster told reporters. "I don't know what they are, but you can say I'm throwing it to George, and you get to throw it to George [in those games]. It doesn't work like that [in real life]. There is a coverage, you read it, and you do the best you can."
The assistant coach added, "But they know their day's coming, and next thing you know, George, one of these days, will have a breakout day, and some would be by design, and some will just be because that's the way the play played out."
Kittle had back-to-back seasons of over 1,000 yards receiving in his second and third years in the league. He was 80 yards shy of a third in 2021 but has yet to reach the milestone since 2019.
Whether it's nine yards, as he had against the Cardinals, or 90 yards, like he had the previous game against the New York Giants, Kittle remains unfazed, as long as his 49ers secure the victory.
"Sure, I love getting the football," Kittle said. "I love running in space. It's fun. If those aren't the play calls being called, it is what it is, and I'm just going to do everything I can to either get those guys open or block my ass off. And I've been doing that pretty well so far."
Distributing the football can be a challenge when you have a plethora of offensive playmakers. Kittle has to contend with Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk, Deebo Samuel, and others for touches.
"Obviously, I want to feed all my guys as best as possible across the board, every single game," quarterback Brock Purdy said. "But, yeah, at the end of the day, man, I'm just doing what I'm asked within the offense, trying to move the ball, move the chains, put up points, and win.
"George has done a tremendous job, obviously, in the run game, the pass game, when the ball does come his way. And like the whole team says, and we say this all the time, there's no ego, man. We want to win. We want to do whatever it takes. ... If it were up to me, obviously, I'd love to have all my guys, including George, go for 150 every game and four touchdowns, but it's just the nature of the game and sort of how every game is different."
Kittle added, "When the ball is thrown your way, you've just got to make the most of those opportunities because there's a lot of mouths to feed on this offense."