The San Francisco 49ers are determined to rebound from their gut-wrenching Super Bowl loss in February, eager to climb the mountain again and take another shot at championship glory. You might think that Friday night's preseason finale against the Las Vegas Raiders would be tough for some players, especially since Allegiant Stadium was the site of that crushing defeat against the Kansas City Chiefs.
However, at least one player has no qualms about returning to the venue. Tight end George Kittle joined Bay Area radio station 95.7 The Game on Thursday morning and was asked if returning to Allegiant Stadium would be difficult.
"I don't really think so," Kittle responded. "It's a new season. I'm pretty good at flushing stuff and moving on. If you let things linger and control like your thought process and stuff, it's just going to slow you down for the next upcoming season. There's nothing I can do to change what happened. Would have preferred to win; we didn't. But if I just let that continue to linger, it's just going to affect my overall performance and attitude for this upcoming season.
"And the great thing about football is it just keeps coming every single year. It's just there again. You're either going to take advantage of the opportunity that's in front of you, or you're going to let it just hit you in the face. So I think we're really excited to go back there, and you might have an emotion or two when you walk into the stadium, for sure. I'm not going to try to suppress that by any means, but I know I'm pretty good."
Kittle and several other starters expect to play on Friday night, taking advantage of their last opportunity to work out the kinks before the regular-season opener at Levi's Stadium against the New York Jets. While Kittle looks to build on his 1,020-yard, six-touchdown performance from last season, the ultimate goal remains unchanged—to be the last team standing.
"I like where my team's at. The guys are feeling good, and I'm just excited to go play football because I actually get to lace up the cleats for a preseason game," Kittle concluded.
