Defensive players are smart, and defensive coordinators try to account for anything an opposing offense might throw at them. So imagine the thoughts going through a young player's head when his coach tells him, "If you execute this play like this, you will have a clear shot at the end zone."

It can't be that simple, right?


You've likely heard those types of stories about Bill Walsh and his play designs. Players were catching the ball, turning upfield, and then expecting to brace for a hit only to find that there was no one around them.

According to second-year tight end George Kittle, who was selected to his first Pro Bowl on Tuesday, San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is the same way.

"Coach Shanahan straight up tells me, 'Look, if you do this right, you're going to be wide open. You're going to get the ball,'" Kittle told Ian Rapoport this week on the "RapSheet and Friends" podcast. "Like the 85-yard touchdown (vs. Denver), he said that. He said, 'Hey, this is probably going to be a touchdown, so just don't trip and fall on your way to the end zone.'"

Kittle continued, "And when one of those big plays doesn't get into the end zone, you can just see his disappointment because the plays that he calls, like the long touchdowns, he calls them for that specific reason."

Kittle didn't receive a lot of targets at Iowa. He had 48 receptions for 737 receiving yards in four seasons with the Hawkeyes. Kittle has 72 catches for 1,154 yards through 14 games this season and is now the franchise's single-season record holder for most receiving yards by a tight end.


"It's been absolutely amazing playing for Coach Shanahan," Kittle said. "He gives guys opportunities, and then when you capitalize on those, he just gives you more. Obviously, when you get thrown the ball or are catching it and running, it's pretty fun.

"I'd like more wins, and I think those are going to come down the line. I think we have some good building blocks for that. But I've had a lot of fun playing for Coach Shanahan. It's a good atmosphere. The coaches and our front office, they've helped us establish a pretty good culture here, and we're just going to keep going with that moving forward."

Kittle added, "Playing for Coach Shanahan is pretty easy. He inspires you to go out and play really hard and really well. We've also got a great group of guys. Everyone's got each other's back; offense, defense, special teams. It's really fun.

"If you've got a good group of guys led by an awesome head coach, it makes it pretty easy to want to go out there and play every single week. I feel like we've done a pretty good job of that all year. We haven't really taken too many really bad losses, other than a couple, but we usually go out there, and we fight our butts off every single time. And, like I said, Coach Shanahan makes it pretty easy."

You can listen to the entire 13-minute interview with Kittle, which starts at about the 9:50 mark, below.




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