SANTA CLARA — In the 49ers’ 20-10 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, George Kittle’s return was instantly noticeable and reflected in the team’s PFF grades.
After six weeks of struggling to get the run game going, Christian McCaffrey and the offense notched their first 100-yard rushing game since Week 1, when Kittle suffered the hamstring injury that kept him off the field for the following five games.
Kittle did not register a catch in Sunday night’s game, but his presence alone on the field drew people to his side of the field — and McCaffrey felt the difference.
“It’s a different ball game when he’s in there,” McCaffrey said. “Even when he doesn’t have a big statistical game, the attention that he draws, it opens so much up. I mean, that’s why football’s the biggest team game on the planet. It always has been. It always will be. When you got guys like that on the field, just their presence alone strikes a lot of fear in coordinators, so you have to keep eyes on them.”
After averaging 0.7 yards before contact through six games, McCaffrey averaged 2.5 yards before contact on Sunday night and 5.4 yards per carry. The All-Pro was averaging 3.2 yards per carry before the prime-time matchup.
When Kittle was on the field, 49ers running backs averaged 5.4 yards per carry compared to just 2.0 yards per carry when the All-Pro was on the sidelines.
Here are more highlights from the 49ers’ PFF grades:
Offense
RB Christian McCaffrey – 81.4
The star ball carrier racked up 201 yards from scrimmage — his highest total as a member of the 49ers. McCaffrey recorded seven carries of 10 or more yards on Sunday night after only managing six runs of 10 or more yards through the first six games of the 2025 NFL season.
The All-Pro notched a career-high nine first downs rushing, as well as a five additional first downs receiving. Fourteen of the 49ers’ 23 first downs came when McCaffrey had the ball in his hands.
McCaffrey leads all NFL running backs with 516 receiving yards on the season, with Falcons star Bijan Robinson at 390 and Miami Dolphins running back De’Von Achane with 211.
QB Mac Jones – 75.9
Jones was blitzed on 15 of his 28 drop backs, or 53.6 percent, and the signal-caller completed eight of his 13 attempts for 69 yards when blitzed, which also includes Demarcus Robinson’s drop on a 40-yard attempt.
The short game was Jones’ bread and butter with an average depth of five yards per pass, which was his lowest of the season. Only five of the quarterback’s 26 attempts were more than 10 yards downfield.
The offensive line only allowed six pressures:
LT Trent Williams – one hurry
LG Connor Colby – one hit, one hurry
C Matt Hennessy – one hurry
RG Dominick Puni – one sack
RT Colton McKivitz – one hit
Defense
The defense racked up a whopping 22 quarterback pressures on Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr., including three sacks.
Bryce Huff – one sack, four hurries
Sam Okuayinonu – two sacks, two hits, one hurry
Alfred Collins – one hit, two hurries
Dee Winters – two hurries
Jordan Elliott – two hurries
Kevin Givens – two hurries
Mykel Williams – one hurry
Tatum Bethune – one hurry
Chase Lucas – one hit
LB Tatum Bethune – 79.3
Bethune led the team with 10 total tackles, including three run stops, and was solid in coverage, only allowing two catches on two targets for just 14 yards. But his three missed tackles brought down his overall score.
DL Bryce Huff – 81.9
Huff received the top grade on defense with not only five pressures, but a forced fumble and two stops.
Penix was under pressure on 34.9 percent of his drop backs, with just three completions on 13 attempts for 61 yards, and two sacks.
After leading the league in yards from scrimmage for one week, Robinson’s longest run of the night was only 8 yards.