Eagles

I Hate the 49ers but Wouldn’t Mind George Kittle Winning a Ring

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 29th, 2024 · 3:18 PM EST

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The San Francisco 49ers, by large, are a bunch of tool bags, but George Kittle strikes me as a quality dude. This comment about analytics and momentum is on point:

George Kittle says he doesn’t know why some football analysts don’t believe in momentum, then describes how the Levi’s crowd helped shift momentum in the 2nd half pic.twitter.com/sHmU1IkIQY

— KNBR (@KNBR) January 29, 2024

Thank you. It is, indeed, a load of horse crap. Momentum absolutely exists. Why would anyone believe otherwise? It’s insane to argue that big plays and important sequences don’t have some sort of meaningful impact on player performance and/or crowd fervor.

We’ve had the analytics discussion many times on this site. Analyics = good, but within reason. Whenever you can use numbers to inform your decision making and expand your knowledge base, then you’ll take that, always. But numbers can’t be everything. You still have to trust your eyes, and gut, and feel the flow of the game. These are non-quantifiable things that cannot be packaged into some sort of data set, so some members of the dorks-with-calculators club pretend like they just don’t exist. If it can’t be turned into a number, it may as well be fake. Coincidentally, they never played sports at any meaningful level, so they don’t have any lived experience with factors that we could probably describe as esoteric.

Kittle keeps adding to the “I kind of like this guy” dossier. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in an Eagles uniform. This is the same guy who revealed a “fuck Dallas” undershirt after scoring three touchdowns against the Cowboys. He also credited Philly for having a great home environment when he put on his Hurricane Schwartz cap and predicted a “cold and violent” NFC Championship Game. Kittle just seems like a solid dude who loves football and “gets it.” Plus, he’s got the long hair and looks like he listens to grunge.