I got it in my head this season that George Kittle put up his best numbers in big games. He caught 3 TDs in an early-season showdown with Dallas (what seemed like a possible championship game preview, with the teams a combined 7-1), then was huge in the late-season "Super Bowl preview" loss to Baltimore (7 for 126). Is he a big-game guy?
Pulling all of his career games, I was surprised to find that he hasn't actually been a big playoff producer. For whatever reason, it seems like he's been more of a blocker.
Kittle has appeared in nine postseason games in his career. Shockingly, he's caught only 1 touchdown in those contests. Only twice has he reached 40 yards. Pretty remarkable.
| KITTLE IN THE PLAYOFFS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Tgt | No | Rec | TD |
| 2019 | Minn. | W 27-10 | 5 | 3 | 16 | 0 |
| 2019 | G.B. | W 37-20 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 0 |
| 2019 | K.C. | L 20-31 | 7 | 4 | 36 | 0 |
| 2021 | at Dall. | W 23-17 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 0 |
| 2021 | at G.B. | W 13-10 | 6 | 4 | 63 | 0 |
| 2021 | at LAR | L 17-20 | 5 | 2 | 27 | 1 |
| 2022 | Sea. | W 41-23 | 2 | 2 | 37 | 0 |
| 2022 | Dall. | W 19-12 | 5 | 5 | 95 | 0 |
| 2022 | at Phil. | L 7-31 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 0 |
On Kittle's behalf, the best of those games was in his last full game with Brock Purdy at quarterback (5 for 95 in a win over Dallas last year). And some will remember that in the 2019 Super Bowl season, the 49ers leaned heavily on their defense and ground game, not inclined to let Jimmy Garoppolo throw the ball all. No San Francisco receivers did much that year.
There's also the fact that this week's opponent, Green Bay, just let Jake Ferguson catch 3 TDs.
But I think I'll take my chances with Travis Kelce this week (in a league where you can use each player once), using Kittle perhaps next week. (I also think San Francisco is more likely to win than Kansas City.) I'm not willing to put him as the top guy in the Divisional Round.
--Andy Richardson