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Tight end George Kittle went “Hollywood” again Monday night, if you will.
Kittle appeared as the second-quarter guest on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” simulcast with Peyton and Eli Manning, while the Los Angeles Rams visited the Green Bay Packers.
Four days earlier, Kittle scored two touchdowns in the 49ers’ NFC West-clinching at Seattle, and that first score came on a play called “Hollywood,” which led to one of the Manning brothers’ first questions on ESPN’s broadcast:
“I was fake blocking and waiting for the two linebackers to split, and as soon as I see them split, that’s when I trigger to get down the field,” Kittle explained. “(Brock) Purdy did a great job; it was very natural how he pump faked both direction.”
Later, as the Packers drove into the red zone, Peyton Manning asked if “Hollywood” should be the next call, to which Kittle replied: “That’s just a Niners thing right now. I don’t want other people to run it or get used to it.”
Here are other excerpts from Kittle’s commentary:
On Purdy, whose emergence did not totally surprise Kittle because he watched him play the past four seasons at Iowa State, the rival of Kittle’s alma mater, Iowa:
“When he first got in, we were all like, ‘He’s prepared, he can do this.’ He’s been behind Jimmy and learning. He’s been playing at an unreal, high level, making plays left and right. It’s fun to see someone like that take advantage of his opportunity.”
On his “insane” joy of pancake blocks, such as of the Falcons’ Ricardo Allen in 2019:
“Well, dude, come on man, run blocking is all about imposing your will on someone else, moving him from Point A to Point B against his will, and you have to love that. You have to flip a switch, go to a dark place, but when it goes like that, you just have to enjoy it. It’s so fun.”
George Kittle finds pancake blocks to be humorous on the football field 😅
🎥: @ESPNNFLpic.twitter.com/bmvsObqTNU
— Sporting News NFL (@sn_nfl) December 20, 2022
On the hardest part of playing the Rams in the NFC West:
“The hardest thing about playing the rams is Aaron Donald. He’s really good at football and changes up your game plan. … You have to have four hands on him at all times.”
On growing up idolizing tight end Dallas Clark, one of Peyton’s former Colts teammates:
“He’s an Iowa guy. I watched every game he played (at Iowa) – tape fingers, no gloves, just snagging it. There was nothing like it.” (Peyton: “He was a gamer in the playoffs.”)
On how National Tight End Day was born:
“It’s incredible. Shout out to Jimmy (Garoppolo). It was Week 2, 2018. We were playing Detroit at home, the tight ends had a good energy. We had four guys active that day and everyone ws feeling good about themselves with a nice vibe. Jimmy was like, ‘What is it? Are you celebrating?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it’s a holiday.’ He’s, ‘Oh yeah, it’s a holiday, National Tight End Day.’ We said, ‘Yeah, let’s roll with it.’ … The NFL brought it up after the season and I was, ‘Let’s run with it.’ It’s fun when you get one position group mic’d up. And I don’t think tight ends get enough love.”
On what the Packers should do on fourth-and-3 after a fake snap count:
“I would kick it at this point.” The Packers (5-8) ran it for a first down.
On practicing NFL end-zone celebrations? (Question was asked as the Packers scored the game’s first touchdown for a 10-3 lead.)
“We have in past years. Most of the time we don’t. we have tight end celebrations we’ve practice once or twice. Back in 2019, every Friday, they would have ideas and they’d do them while defenses did their scout-team work. During Christmas, we cranked up one of the tight ends as a nutcracker and walked across the field.”
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