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George Kittle practiced on Wednesday, but he had a noticeable limp and I’d put the odds of him playing Sunday at 12%. The 49ers opened Kittle’s practice window, but they have until the end of the season to activate him, which is something the team doesn’t have to do.
Report suggests Detroit Lions are ‘going to move on’ from Matthew Stafford
Well, according to former NFL All-Pro Chad Brown, the Lions are planning on parting ways with Stafford.
Brown, who is an announcer and host on 104.3 The Fan in Denver, is reporting that sources of his have told him the Lions are “going to move on” from Stafford during the coming offseason.
“The Lions are open for business, there’s no doubt about that in my mind. The ability to get Matt Stafford is out there. I haven’t spent much time looking into what it’s going to take to make that happen, but I know the Lions are going to move on.”
“I am absolutely certain of that (the Lions moving on from Stafford), yes. I’ve had conversations — I have birdies too. They are looking to start over. It hasn’t worked.”
San Francisco 49ers appear to be entertaining a George Kittle return, which is an awful idea
Head coach Kyle Shanahan took a slightly more cautionary position on Wednesday, but did add that he’s not against Kittle making his way back in the weeks to come, even if the 49ers are completely out of the playoff race. (They’re not quite dead in that department, but they’re close.)
Lest it need to be said, at 5-8 overall, it would be a truly terrible idea to let Kittle play again this season. If San Francisco was closer to the .500 mark, barely trailing the 7-6 Arizona Cardinals, this would be an entirely different conversation. Instead, the Niners blew it last week against the Washington Football Team.
Also, Kittle is really good. He increases your chances of winning essentially meaningless games. The Niners don’t have an obligation to go full NBA-level tanking, but at this point, it’s in their best interest to at least sit out banged up, top-performing players. Finish the season relatively intact and nab a better draft pick.
“He’s primed for the position,” Willis said. “This is his time right now. That’s why when people are like you should come back, man, I’m like ‘Na, man, I get it but y’all living back then, you see how fast they are moving out there.’ I can’t do that, my toes would be all twisted, I’m not the guy for you. The guy you’re watching now is the guy. Fred is a pleasure to watch.”
It’s something Willis is happy to do given that he sees in Warner all of the necessary tools to be great. Asked what those are, Willis’ list includes attitude, will, effort, execution and dedication as the most important ingredients. He sees all of those things in Warner, who brings fiery intensity on the field but oozes a quiet confidence off of it.
“It’s one thing to be a badass on the field and it’s another to just be a badass cool cat off of it, and he’s both,” Willis said. “I really appreciate that about him. Because every time I have run into him or crossed his path, just a mutual like ‘I see you.’”
Grading Washington Football Team’s Week 14 performance vs. 49ers
Defense
The defense was nothing short of incredible. How about dominant? How about a stone wall that can’t be toppled? How about an unmovable force? The defense came into Desert Southwest hoping to turn up the Arizona heat on Sunday against the 49ers and melt their season into fool’s gold.
The Washington defense won this game and it is the first time since 1992 that Washington won a game without the offense scoring a touchdown.
Opposing offenses are going to be dealing with this defensive juggernaut for many years to come. WFT fans will be treated to a unit that is one of the best over the coming years. Here are some stats from Sunday’s game.
- One interception (a 76-yard pick-six)
- San Francisco tight ends limited to 33 total yards
- 11 pass deflections, including four behind the line of scrimmage
- 12 quarterback hits
- Five tackles for lost yardage
- San Francisco went 4-15 on third-down conversions and 0-1 on fourth-down conversions
Every 49ers starting quarterback since Steve Young’s final game
The 49ers’ legendary run of quarterback play from Joe Montana to Steve Young helped them dominate throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. Young took his final snap for the team in Week 3 of the 1999 season. Since then the quarterback play has been less than stellar.
It’s nothing new that the man under center is the most maligned on the football field. Every win and loss ultimately comes back to the player with the ball in his hands on each offensive snap. For the 2020 49ers, injuries have exacerbated a QB issue that’s been bubbling even since their Super Bowl run in the 2019 season.
With possible changes coming for the team’s signal-caller, we took a look back at all the players who’ve started at quarterback for the 49ers since Young’s final game.
The results weren’t pretty. More players have a winning percentage under .200 than have a winning percentage above .500.