To say it's been a big and busy week for San Francisco 49ers star tight end George Kittle would be a colossal understatement.
After catching three touchdown passes in Sunday night's 42-10 throttling of the Cowboys — one that included a controversial T-shirt reveal that's still being hotly debated — the colorful Niners captain has taken ESPN's Dan Orlovsky to task over comments comparing Patriots quarterback Mac Jones to Brock Purdy.
Here's the line from Orlovsky that got Kittle so peeved:
"If Mac Jones was in San Francisco, he would be playing like Brock Purdy."
"If Mac Jones was in San Francisco, he would be playing like Brock Purdy."
? @danorlovsky7 pic.twitter.com/Riny8cGmCf
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) October 9, 2023
What you have to really appreciate here is fellow analyst Rex Ryan's instantaneous reaction. He went off on Orlovsky's comment in such thunderous fashion that the topic was basically dead on arrival. But this is 2023. There's no chance a bold statement like that just magically dissipates into thin air and we all move on to the next hot-take crisis.
Here's what big George had to say in response:
"I saw that this morning. That's disrespectful to Brock Purdy. I think Mac Jones is a fine quarterback. What Brock's doing — you look at his stats, just watch the tape. People just say, 'Oh, I see his stats, I see some of the things they talk about on Sunday Night Football.' No, just watch him move in the pocket, watch some of these throws that he's making."
Kittle isn't wrong. Purdy has been playing out of his mind, especially so against Dallas on the grand stage of NBC's "Sunday Night Football." This is hardly some "plug and play" situation at the quarterback position where a simple screen pass to Christian McCaffrey or Deebo Samuel will suffice.
Purdy has been extending plays and stretching defenses on a regular basis. Take a look at these stats:
Brock Purdy threw all 4 of his TD passes from outside the tackle box, the most in a game in the NGS era.
Purdy completed 7 of 10 passes over 10 air yards for 166 yards & 3 TD. He leads the NFL in completion percentage (72.1%) on such passes this season.
Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/k8GEwOIF7J
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) October 9, 2023
What's become crystal clear this season is that players on the 49ers will no longer be allowing comments that downplay Purdy's significant impact on the team to slide. All of the "system quarterback" remarks, coupled with a popular go-to remark of "anyone could thrive with that talent," will simply not be tolerated.
But who are we kidding? Guys like Kittle and the rest of the 49ers' stars have to be secretly eating this up. Stuff like this is exactly what will keep that chip on the shoulder of a hungry 5-0 team that might otherwise get a tad too comfortable if all they saw was constant praise and celebration.
Speaking of celebrations, Kittle is currently awaiting his fate on a possible $10,927 fine from the league office for revealing a T-shirt that "contained a profane message about the Cowboys" after scoring on Sunday night.
In the meantime, he's been keeping himself busy while celebrating his 30th birthday and dropping F-bombs on live TV.
George Kittle got the ESPN bleep for dropping a premeditated birthday F-bomb on The Pat McAfee Show pic.twitter.com/dwDNhW1XM8
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 9, 2023
The great thing about Kittle is that while there will never be a shortage of words from No. 85, it's almost always done in a fun spirit without taking things too seriously.
