George Kittle explains why Kyle Shanahan runs plays he knows won't work

George Kittle, the superb 49ers tight end, gave fans an insight into how coach Kyle Shanahan calls plays. And note, there are no wasted snaps. Even the no gains have a purpose. But you might not recognize it until Deebo Samuel pops free down the sideline.

Kittle dropped all these details during an appearance this week on the Slow News Day podcast. You could call it a guest lecture with the headline “unlocking the defense.” Basically, Shanahan unlocks the defense, strips it for parts and kicks it back to the other side of the field.

One of the hosts asked Kittle to give an example of the play that defined Shanahan. So the tight end tossed it back to a recent play, one the 49ers used to beat the Seahawks in the first round of this past season’s playoffs

“Kyle has this thing where if he wants to set up like a type of play action or a bootleg kind of pass, he’ll sometimes call a run play he knows is not going to work,” Kittle said.

Then he described how the monotonous turns into football brilliance.

“We’re running a run play multiple times — two yards a carry, two yards a carry, two yards a carry,” Kittle says. “Then we throw play action behind it. Deebo goes for 75 yards against Seattle. The whole thing is set up because it’s the exact same motion, the exact same alignment, it looks the exact same.

“And all the sudden, Deebo is running the shallow,” he says. “I’m faking like I’m the defensive end, linebacker thinks it’s power. He steps up four yards and Deebo is uncovered in the flat running for a touchdown. It’s stuff like that that’s really fun.”

Kyle Shanahan designs plays so skilled guys have plenty of field

It’s definitely fun for the offensive players. The 49ers do have some high-quality, experienced guys. The unit was so solid it withstood a flurry of injuries at quarterback last fall.

“Kyle Shanahan is like if I can get my skill player the ball, with field, all with space in front of him, whether it’s Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Brandon Aiyuk, Jauan Jennings, we’re all running for days.

“That’s what’s really fun because we have such a great (yards after contact) team. That’s what we’re always talking about. He can scheme us open and it’s really fun to be a part of that offense.”

George Kittle breaks down the secret to Kyle Shanahan’s explosive plays: “If he wants to set up a play action pass or bootleg, he will call a run play that he knows isn’t going to work…” George is so good at talking about this. pic.twitter.com/LIInE8ZKK8

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) June 14, 2023

The next question to Kittle is whether Kyle Shanahan wastes plays to set up future ones. Kittle said no. He pointed to a series he’d seen when Shanahan was the offensive coordinator with the Falcons. The specific game was against the Vikings.

“He showed me this clip, I’ve seen this clip like 50 times over the course of my career,” Kittle said. “Their front seven was so good. And (the Falcons) ran the same outside zone play, like three times in a row. They ran it three or four times in the first 30 plays. … And right before the 35th play they ran play action off of it and the linebackers, they cover it. Then you come back to the play again, but it’s a run play and a linebacker thinks it’s pass. So he’s late to the run and it ends up being an 80-yard run. After that, he showed us the game, everybody was discombobulated because it changed up the whole structure of the defense.”

And here’s the money line from Kittle.

“He calls it unlocking the defense, which I’m a huge fan of. … The defense, they have to change up and they can’t continue their game plan. Once they do that, now they’re guessing about what we’re doing, that’s when Kyle eats people’s lunch. That’s what he’s really good at.”