Five yards is all that kept George Kittle from surpassing Shannon Sharpe's NFL single-game record of 214 receiving yards by a tight end. Just five little yards — or four from matching the record.
"He should have put some baby powder in his hands and slapped all the coaches," Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders said on NFL Gameday Prime.
Kittle had seven receptions for 210 yards with a touchdown in the first half of Sunday's win over the Denver Broncos. It seemed inevitable that he would become to new record holder — even to Sharpe.
"I was on Twitter, and everybody was like, 'Man, this dude is about to break your record,'" Sharpe said. "I'm like, 'How many yards does he have?'
"And I'm like, 'This dude got seven (catches) for 210?!'"
Kittle was held without a catch in the second half.
"I can't believe it," Sharpe continued. "Literally, I'm being honest; I would have fought somebody. Man, you've got to throw me one pass. One pass, let me get five yards, and I don't care what you do after that."
Kittle learned how close he was to the record halfway through the fourth quarter. His statistics in the first half were enough to help lift San Francisco past Denver for the team's third win of the season.
"We won," Kittle told reporters after the game. "That's about all that matters."
Shanahan was disappointed that he couldn't get Kittle the record to go along with the victory.
"I told him he needed to apologize for not getting 215 in the first half," Shanahan said. "No, I'm just joking. I definitely apologized to him. We were definitely debating on how we could do it there at the end. I didn't think it would have been a problem, but I wish that he did get it."
Quarterback Nick Mullens didn't have much trouble getting the ball to Kittle in the first half. Kittle's performance made him the single-season franchise record holder for most receiving yards by a tight end.
Vernon Davis was the previous record holder with 965 receiving yards in 2009. Kittle now has 1,103 receiving yards this season, which also makes him the first 49ers player to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a single-season since Anquan Boldin did so in 2014.
"He was open every play, man," Mullens said of Kittle's first-half performance. "It was crazy. Shoot, all the receivers were. That's why I give the coaches so much credit. The guys were wide open. So, that's fun, man."
