PFF grades show 49ers benefitted from George Kittle Effect in win vs. Falcons

SANTA CLARA — In the 49ers’ 20-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, George Kittle’s return was instantly noticeable and reflected in the team’s PFF grades. After six weeks of struggling to get the run game going, Christian McCaffrey and the offense notched their first 100-yard rushing game since Week 1, when Kittle suffered the hamstring injury that kept him off the field for the following five games.Kittle did not register a catch in Sunday night’s game, but his presence alone on the field drew people to his side of the field — and McCaffrey felt the difference.“It’s a different ball game when he’s in there,” McCaffrey said. “Even when he doesn’t have a big statistical game, the attention that he draws, it opens so much up. I mean, that’s why football’s 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 in coordinators, so you have to keep eyes on them.”After averaging 0.7 yards before contact through six games, McCaffrey averaged 2.5 yards...