Tight end George Kittle didn’t play in last Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks, but he’s not planning to remain out of action for long.
Kittle sat out in Week 11 with a hamstring injury, but head coach Kyle Shanahan said that Kittle will be able to take part in Wednesday’s practice on a limited basis. Kittle said that work will be a prelude to his return to action in Green Bay this Sunday.
“I will be playing on Sunday,” Kittle said, via KNBR. “Very excited. Can’t pass up playing the Packers. I will be out there for sure.”
Kittle has 43 catches for 560 yards and seven touchdowns so far this season and the 49ers will be happy to welcome that production back as they try to move to 6-5 this season.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy is dealing with some right shoulder soreness, but the team isn’t making any plans to play a different quarterback against the Packers this weekend.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday that Purdy will be a limited participant in the team’s first practice of the week, but added that he has no concern about Purdy’s availability for Week 12.
Purdy was 21-of-28 for 159 yards, a touchdown, and an interception in last Sunday’s loss to the Seahawks.
Shanahan said that running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles, rest), defensive end Nick Bosa (oblique, hip), left tackle Trent Williams (ankle, rest), linebacker Tatum Bethune (knee), and defensive tackle Kevin Givens (groin) will not practice. Tight end George Kittle (hamstring), wide receiver Jacob Cowing (concussion), and cornerback Charvarius Ward (personal) are set to be the other limited participants.
More and more NFL players are mimicking the two-fisted dance from the 45th and 47th U.S. president. And the league has no problem with it.
Nor should it.
“There’s no issue with a celebratory dance such as what took place [Sunday] or the previous week with the 49ers on November 10,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told Michael McCarthy of FrontOfficeSports.com, referring to multiple players who have done the dance after big plays. Brian McCarthy added that, as to broadcasting the celebrations, “It’s up to the networks to cover them as they see fit.”
It’s a story given the political undertones of the dance. But the dance itself violates no league rules. Even if the players doing the dance are doing it to make a political statement, the rules allow it.
The rules allow it the same way the rules allow a player to sit or kneel (or not put his hand over his heart) during the National Anthem.
The trend became a bigger story for the NFL in part because the Raiders reportedly shut down tight end Brock Bowers’s post-game press conference after he was asked, and answered, a question about the dance. That has led to criticism regarding the actual or perceived double standard when it comes to actual or perceived political gestures.
Why are players who don’t stand for the anthem expected to explain their stance while players who are doing the Trump dance (or wearing a hat with a political statement on the field, which violates the rules) given a pass?
Again, players can do the Trump dance all they want. It’s fully within the rules. But it’s weird, and it’s weak, for players and/or teams to slam the door on any discussion regarding the political beliefs potentially held by anyone who does that dance in public.
On the last play of the Seahawks-49ers game, a catch that became not a catch kept those who bet the over on Deebo Samuels’s receptions prop from cashing in.
A reader sent the game footage and the NFL’s official explanation of the play. Referee Brad Rodgers explained that an offensive pass interference penalty on the 49ers had been declined, ending the game. The NFL’s game book said the play was nullified by the penalty.
Samuels had a 4.5 catch over-under. With the play, he had five receptions. Without it, he had four.
We asked the NFL to explain the situation. Here’s what the league said: “As per NFL scoring rules, when an offensive foul occurs on the last play of a half and the offensive team gains yardage on the play, the play is nullified in its entirety. There is no declining of a penalty. The half or game is over. The announcement was incorrect as it should have declared the game over instead of saying the penalty was declined.”
It obviously didn’t impact the outcome of the game. But anyone who had Samuel going over 4.5 catches believed incorrectly that they lost.
Here’s hoping that no one who had Samuel under 4.5 tore up their tickets.
49ers running back Christian McCaffrey was more critical of his play against the Seahawks after Sunday’s loss than head coach Kyle Shanahan was when he discussed McCaffrey’s play on Monday.
McCaffrey ran 17 times for 79 yards and caught four passes for 27 yards in the 20-17 49ers loss and said after the game that he feels he “can be a lot better” than that. History backs up that feeling, but Shanahan didn’t find much to pick apart about McCaffrey’s performance.
“I think Christian’s doing a good job,” Shanahan said, via 49ersWebzone.com. “I didn’t think he had any opportunity for some big ones. They kept him contained pretty good, especially in their two shell defenses, so there might have been one run he left a little bit out there. But I don’t think I’ve ever said that there isn’t a run that you left a little bit out there in a game. But I think Christian’s doing a good job.”
McCaffrey had 107 yards from scrimmage against the Buccaneers in his 2024 debut in Week 10, but has not scored a touchdown yet and the entire 49ers offense was missing explosive plays against Seattle. Getting that part of McCaffrey’s game in gear would be a significant development as the 49ers try to put everything together for a strong finishing stretch.
