SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — With the San Francisco 49ers protecting a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter, George Kittle caught a pass 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage against a blitz and saw only open territory ahead.
Kittle outran former teammate Talanoa Hufanga on the way to the 56-yard touchdown that sealed San Francisco's 24-14 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday and silenced any doubters who questioned how he would perform coming off major Achilles tendon surgery in January.
“Any time you see green grass, I think I ran the entire time with a smile on my face,” said Kittle, who’ll turn 33 on Friday. “Always outrunning younger, old teammates is always a good time, especially when they’re (27).”
Kittle is defying the odds early this season with an impressive return from the Achilles tendon injury that knocked him out of San Francisco's wild-card win against Philadelphia on Jan. 11.
He attacked the rehabilitation with the same zeal he does with everything on the football field and is a big reason why the Niners are off to a 4-0 start this season.
“You can talk about being tough all you want,” teammate Christian McCaffrey said. “You can call him tough. But I think football gives you a unique opportunity to really show it. That’s what he’s doing. To do what he did all offseason, to grind every single day nonstop, it’s showing. I’d love to say I’m shocked, but I’m not. That’s just who he is. He attacks everything full speed, always has the best attitude. So it’s no shock that George Kittle’s playing like George Kittle.”
Kittle set the goal of returning in time for the season opener and did just that, getting back on the field in Week 1 in Australia for a win against the Rams.
He caught just two passes for 12 yards that game but has been one of the most productive tight ends in the league since then. His 232 yards receiving and four touchdowns lead all players at the position the past three weeks.
“I think the biggest part was the acceleration was getting that back,” Kittle said. “I really, really felt that starting Week 2 and on. In Australia, I felt totally weird. But Week 2 and on, I had so much confidence in it and haven’t looked back since.”
He's back to playing at the level he had when reaching seven Pro Bowls and earning two All-Pro honors in his first nine seasons and was even clocked at 19.84 mph, according to the NFL's Next Gen Stats, on his long touchdown that was his second longest in the past seven seasons.
“I forgot about his Achilles in Australia,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Just how he looked, moving and stuff. We thought about it because it was his first time back and we were trying to be smart with him just early on. But just in terms of how he’s looked, he’s been unbelievable since Australia.”
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