SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In recent years, Kyle Shanahan has called trick plays involving Deebo Samuel, Jauan Jennings, Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk.
On Sunday, it was George Kittle’s turn.
The play — called Pass 18 Gumby — came at the start of the second quarter after the San Francisco 49ers defense had forced a three-and-out series, one of six in the 49ers’ 42-10 demolition of the Dallas Cowboys, and the 49ers had taken over at the Dallas 38-yard line
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It’s called “Gumby” because it’s meant to look like one of the stretch-zone runs to the sideline that are a staple of the 49ers’ rushing attack, plays that are led by Kittle blocking on the edge.
There were two problems after Brock Purdy called it in the huddle, the first being that the Cowboys lined up in a five-man front.
“That’s a pretty tough look to get it off against,” tackle Trent Williams said. “When you call it, though, you don’t have any checks (out of) it. You kind of have to live with it.”
The second was that the play clock already was winding down when the 49ers broke the huddle. When the offense had practiced the play during the week, Kittle explained, the ball was snapped only after Purdy pretended like he was changing it to a new play.
Against the Cowboys, the ball had to be snapped on Purdy’s first “hut.” Everyone took off on time except for right tackle Colton McKivitz, who still thought it was going to be on Purdy’s second “hut.” That required Kittle to linger at the line of scrimmage longer than designed to help block the defensive end.
On this night, however, snafus didn’t seem to matter.
Purdy handed the ball to McCaffrey like the tailback was heading for the sideline, McCaffrey tossed it to Samuel who was running the other way and Samuel tossed it back to Purdy.
By that point, Kittle had broken free of the line of scrimmage and Purdy connected with him for an easy score, the second of Kittle’s three touchdowns against the Cowboys.
It's tricky 🔄@gkittle46 scores his 2nd TD of the night!
📺 #DALvsSF on NBC
📱 NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4oaLh pic.twitter.com/tAUa8Ny2Jo
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 9, 2023
The tight end said it was his first three-score outing since he was in junior high.
“I was a hell of a seventh-grade running back,” he noted.
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Kittle said Pass 18 Gumby had been in the playbook since Week 7 or 8 last season and it seemed like the 49ers had practiced it every week since. But they broke it out only once before, in the second half of the NFC Championship Game when the 49ers were out of healthy quarterbacks and were looking for something — anything — to generate yardage. McCaffrey, in fact, was the designated quarterback when they ran it in Philadelphia and he never even got off the pass to Kittle.
“He didn’t throw it because I think I was quadruple covered,” Kittle said. “We didn’t really have much of a threat of throwing last year.”
This time, however, the 49ers were certain it would work.
For one, the Cowboys had done a good job of running to the sideline and stopping the stretch-zone runs in last season’s playoff game against the 49ers. McCaffrey rushed for 35 yards on 10 carries in that meeting, though he did score a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The 49ers figured a trick play would be a good way of using the Cowboys’ aggressiveness against them in the same way Samuel’s surprise pass to Jennings worked in a critical win over the Los Angeles Rams during the 2021 season and McCaffrey was able to hit Aiyuk in the end zone against the Rams last season.
Another reason for optimism — the 49ers had seen the play work to perfection earlier in the day. Their Sunday evening start against the Cowboys allowed them to watch the early slate of NFL games, including the Detroit Lions’ 42-24 win over the Carolina Panthers in which Jared Goff threw a 31-yard flea flicker touchdown to tight end Sam LaPorta, who like Kittle played at Iowa. The plays were virtual carbon copies of each other. They were so close, in fact, that Kittle complained to tight ends coach Brian Fleury when he saw Detroit’s touchdown.
“‘Dude, they ran our play! How’d they know?’” Kittle recounted. “He was like, ‘Don’t worry. We’re going to run it better.’ And, yeah, it was (7) yards farther out. I’m never upset when two Iowa tight ends are scoring on the same play.”
Same play, different @HawkeyeFootball TE scoring a TD. @gkittle46
📺: #DALvsSF on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/gzzkvIRUdj pic.twitter.com/w6BBJ6FDRJ
— NFL (@NFL) October 9, 2023
Kittle’s two other touchdowns — from 19 and 10 yards out — were equally well-designed plays. And they came one week after he was targeted just once in the passing game, the lowest number of his career. Not that Kittle complained.
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“This team doesn’t seem to have an ego,” said Purdy, who said he never hears teammates complain they’re being underutilized. “Everyone wants to win.”
Kittle, of course, was effective as a blocker in the win over the Arizona Cardinals. And he was utilized that way against the Cowboys, too, often being tasked with blocking Dallas’ best pass rusher, Micah Parsons. Parsons burst into the backfield and blew up one of McCaffrey’s running plays, but was held to four tackles and no sacks.
As if the lopsided score wasn’t evidence enough, the fact that Kittle provided the bulk of the 49ers’ points underscored just how potent the 49ers are this season. The team leaned on McCaffrey’s running in all of its games so far and they have alternately gotten big production from Aiyuk and Samuel in the passing game. That Kittle had his first-ever three-touchdown game against a defense like the Cowboys’ shows how much the team had in reserve during its first four contests.
After the game, Nick Bosa said he was happy that Kittle “finally got the big night he deserved.”
“I just think he kind of gets overshadowed sometimes,” Bosa said. “And I see a lot of tight ends around the league that are scoring touchdowns. And I feel like George deserves his due and it was just a matter of time.”
(Photo of Spencer Burford, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey celebrating Kittle’s second touchdown: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
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