Bucs defender's trash talk fueled 49ers' George Kittle to pull off huge play he was never meant to make
George Kittle's incredible rapport with Brock Purdy was crucial to the San Francisco 49ers escaping with a 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10, the tight end producing a game-changing play that was certainly not in the script for San Francisco. Kittle made an outstanding catch in the left corner of the […]
George Kittle's incredible rapport with Brock Purdy was crucial to the San Francisco 49ers escaping with a 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 10, the tight end producing a game-changing play that was certainly not in the script for San Francisco.
Kittle made an outstanding catch in the left corner of the endzone from a scrambling Purdy to give the 49ers a 20-17 lead on a broken play with just seven minutes remaining in regulation.
Though the Bucs were able to tie things up on a Chase McLaughlin field goal, Brock Purdy went four for four on a game-winning drive to allow Jake Moody to redeem himself after three field goal misses with a 44-yard game winner.
The 49ers had once again been in a red-zone funk prior to Kittle's toe-tapping heroics, and afterwards he revealed the motivation for him to make that critical play came during his route.
Kittle uncovered to make the catch after being tracked by Josh Hayes and, interviewed by Chris Simms for 'Football Night in America', he said of his role on that play.
"My only coaching point on that corner was to get covered so Christian McCaffrey could score, and they came out with different a coverage than I guess we expected. And I just felt Brock kind of scrambling and scurrying around, and the entire time the guy covering me is kind of talking crap in my ear, which just gets me fired up, which I absolutely love that. Thank you for doing that.
"And I just kind of locked eyes and I just gave him a little bit of a little space in the back corner and he threw an absolute dime and gave me a chance to be the only one to go get it."
When the 49ers needed a lift down 17-13, Kittle was there to deliver a substantial one. There aren't many players who would claim to be motivated by trash talk mid-play. However, Kittle is a different breed, and Hayes will now likely regret making any effort to get into Kittle's head.
