49ers Notebook: George Kittle’s impact; McCaffrey wins RB showdown; Chase Lucas cashes in on big opportunity; What makes the 49ers good?

Just how much difference can one tight end make?

The answer is a whole lot, based on Sunday night's game between the 49ers and Falcons.

The 20-10 win over the Falcons at Levi's Stadium was the first time since Week 1 that the 49ers played with tight end George Kittle, who has been sidelined due to a hamstring injury. And Kittle's impact was significant, even though he didn't make a catch.

In this version of 49ers Notebook, we're going to get into why Kittle's return made such a difference, plus we're going to get into some interesting post-game quotes from Kittle, running back Christian McCaffrey, defensive back Chase Lucas, and others on what went down against the Falcons on Sunday night. Let's get into it...

Welcome back, George

After weeks of seemingly unending bad injury news for the 49ers, the return of George Kittle was truly a sight for sore eyes on Sunday night. And he made his impact felt among a running attack that racked up 174 yards on 39 carries.

Kittle obviously was a significant contributor with his run blocking against a Falcons defense that entered the game rated as the league's best. But according to Christian McCaffrey, who had a season-high 129 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, Kittle made an impact simply because he was on the field.

"It's a different ball game when he's in there," said McCaffrey, who also caught seven passes for 72 yards in the win. "Even when he doesn't have a big statistical game, the attention that he draws, it opens so much up. That's why football is the biggest team game on the planet. It always has been, it always will be. When you got guys like that on the field, just their presence alone strikes a lot of fear into coordinators. So you have to keep eyes on him."

Kittle wasn't the only reason the 49ers finally got their running game going after averaging just over 82 yards a game and 3.1 yards per carry over their first six contests. The 49ers were able to fight through another injury -- this time to center Jake Brendel, who was replaced by veteran Matt Hennessy -- and also did a great job on defense of keeping the Falcons from racking up big yards of their own. But Kittle was a difference maker among what McCaffrey called a total team effort.

"Having George out there is awesome," McCaffrey said. "He's so good in the run game and the pass game. And I think his versatility is what causes a lot of problems. But also, we had guys go down on the O-line too and step up big. I don't know how many rotations we had today, but just everybody who came in and stepped up did such a great job. Kyle always says it takes a whole team to be able to run the ball. It takes receivers, it takes tight ends, obviously, it takes O-line, it takes guys like Juice (fullback Kyle Juszczyk), takes a quarterback being able to stay on the field on third down. Then it takes a defense stepping up so that you have opportunities to run, you're not super behind. I've never heard a coach say that, but that makes so much sense to me. To be able to run the ball is a huge team effort. And our guys allowed that to happen today."

It certainly would have been nice for Kittle to catch a pass in his return to action ("I would love to catch the football once in a while," he joked after the game), and he was only targeted twice by quarterback Mac Jones. But he was more than happy to get the win, and he gave Jones credit for the decisions he made along the way.

"Personally, I thought with the game plan based on the walkthrough yesterday, I thought I was going to have 150 yards and two touchdowns," Kittle said Sunday. "So, sorry fantasy coaches and anybody that bet on me. My bad. Blame Kyle Shanahan, not me. I think the Falcons just did a really good job. We called a bunch of the plays. We called the plays that we thought I was going to be open on and next thing I know there's two to three people standing in the window. And then Mac did a great job of not forcing anything and then just, 'Hey, let's get it to a checkdown, let's get it to another guy that's open and just keep the ball moving.'

"Like I said, I would love to get the football. I love catching the ball and I love hitting people and I love running in open space. But like I said, if other guys are taking advantage of the opportunity and they're winning their one-on-ones, I'll take it. I want to win, and I want to just keep winning because that's way more fun than having 100 yards and losing."

McCaffrey 1, Bijan Robinson 0

Throughout the game's live television broadcast, there was mention of the relationship struck up over the offseason between McCaffrey and Falcons running back Bijan Robinson after Robinson approached McCaffrey to work out over the offseason. Based on the season the two of them had been having before Sunday, most would have probably picked Robinson to outgain McCaffrey on the ground when the two faced off. But it didn't turn out that way, as McCaffrey turned in his first 100-yard game of the season while Robinson was held to 14 carries for 40 yards.

Robinson was averaging a whopping 5.8 yards per carry before Sunday, while McCaffrey had been struggling to create chunk plays over his first six games and stands at 3.5 yards per carry even after Sunday. But McCaffrey was the clear winner on Sunday night, as Robinson acknowledged after the game.

"It's always in me to want to compete with my peers and with Christian," said Robinson, who also caught six passes for 52 yards and one touchdown. "Dude did outstanding today and he's very hard to stop. I give him so much credit. It's such a blessing watching a guy like that. Obviously for me, I have to just be better for my team. He did a great job for his, so I got to be better for mine.

"I'm going to look at his performance. I'm going to look at his game and then look back at mine. He's been doing it for a long time and for me, I got a lot of work to do. I got to be the best player for this team."

Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss gave some props to McCaffrey as well, saying, "He's just so efficient, he does everything right. He's so efficient in his play. It's not really like Bijan Robinson, it's very different from him. Although you think about their stats so similarly, it's not. Like McCaffrey's really dancing out there, but he reads everything perfectly. He's so precise with his run game, his catch game. He's a great player, and you love going up against the great ones, and he got the best of us today."

McCaffrey (981 yards, six touchdowns in seven games) and Robinson (914 yards, four touchdowns in six games) exited the game ranked first and second in the NFL in yards from scrimmage, so perhaps they'll be battling it out the rest of the way for postseason honors. But McCaffrey got the most important stat on Sunday night -- a win -- and if the 49ers prove to have found their groove on the ground once again, he could be tough to beat statistically from here on out.

Long time coming for Chase Lucas

Throughout the preseason and now the regular season, Chase Lucas is showing NFL teams he is capable of making plays on defense.

Lucas has spent most of his time as a special teams player since being selected as a seventh-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 2022. But on Sunday night, he got the call as the nickel corner in place of the injured Upton Stout.

"This is my first time really being able to play in the regular season on defense in four years," said Lucas, who used his strong performances in preseason games to help win a spot on the 49ers' roster.

Lucas made a play at a pivotal time in Sunday night's game, as he stood between wide receiver Drake London and what would have been a first down on a fourth down conversion attempt in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. threw the ball in London's direction, but it bounced off London's hands after going through Lucas's hands first.

"I'm mad as hell I dropped the pick, but at the end of the day I'm glad we got the dub," Lucas said.

Sunday night served as a big moment for the 28-year-old Lucas, but he seemed more happy about helping the 49ers win than getting an opportunity to shine on defense.

"Personally it's big, but at the end of the day, I'm just glad we won the game," Lucas said. "I thank Kyle for the opportunity. I thank Coach Saleh and (defensive backs coach) Daniel Bullocks for the opportunity, because I told them 'I'm going to leave it all out there, no matter what.' I don't care about being the guy. I just care about being the guy to make the play to win the game."

Secret ingredients

When looking at the amount of significant injuries the 49ers have had this season, it might not make sense at first that they are 5-2 after seven games. Typically a team doesn't lose their starting quarterback, their starting wide receivers, their starting tight end, and their two best players on defense and still wind up leading their division.

But that's been the case for the 49ers. Why? George Kittle gave his answer on Sunday, citing the play of Mac Jones and the coaching of defensive coordinator Robert Saleh as the reasons for the 49ers' success.

"I think one, Mac Jones is a fantastic quarterback," Kittle said. "The way that he stepped up for when Brock (Purdy) has not been in and led this team to a bunch of victories is incredible. He gets hit a ton of times and he stands right back up and delivers the next pass. The way that he is in and out of the huddle. So that is one reason I think for our success is him.

"And then the other one is, I've said this since OTAs, Robert Saleh is the best free agent signing that we possibly got. The juice that he brings every single day, how smart he is, the way that he game plans, how he sets guys up for success, puts guys in position to succeed, how he calls the blitzes on the right time. Like he's just such a good, good coach. And I'm so happy that we got him back this year because he is a fire for our defense and he will be a fire for us. So those are my two things that I think that is a reason why the team is good."

Jones may (or may not) see his time as starting quarterback come to an end next week, as Purdy could return from his toe injury for the 49ers' road game against the Houston Texans. But if the 49ers can continue to get what they've gotten so far from Saleh, they won't be fading from the NFC West race anytime soon.

Fred Warner tribute

Injured linebacker Fred Warner was still all over the place on Sunday night, even if he wasn't able to play due to his ankle being in a cast.

Warner was watching the game from the box while keeping his injured leg elevated, but his presence was felt among 49ers players, who were inspired to perform in his honor after he sustained the injury against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week. Linebackers Tatum Bethune, who is Warner's replacement in the lineup, and Dee Winters showed their support before the game by wearing different variations of Warner's jersey.

Winters was seen wearing number 54, Warner's current number, while Bethune wore 48, which was Warner's number when he first joined the 49ers. Bethune told reporters Sunday night that it was all Winters' idea.

"Actually, shout out to Dee Winters," Bethune said. "Like two days before, he told me he got a shirt for me. He wore a 54 jersey, and (said) it was a great idea for me to wear 48 jersey, his rookie year. And I feel like the rest of this season, I'm just thinking about Fred. And then all this, everything we do is for him, man. He's done a lot for us. He put his body on the line for us, and we just want to show him that it didn't go unnoticed and we learn from it and we're going to feed off of it."

Bethune played well in Warner's absence, totaling 10 tackles and one tackle for loss. He said Sunday that Warner caught him off guard by returning to the team earlier this week and has continued to be an inspiration to him ever since.

"It surprised us," Bethune said. "When guys get surgery, they don't show up for a while, and he showed up. He watched film with us, and he didn't give any pointers, but he allowed us to learn. And he just showed us that he's still here. And if somebody does that, man, it shows he really care and it's not always about him. Fred is like a big brother to us."