During the fourth quarter of the 49ers' 42-10 rout of the Dallas Cowboys on “Sunday Night Football,” George Kittle pulled up his jersey to reveal an undershirt with a NSFW message regarding the opposing team.
After the game, the All-Pro tight end shared the T-shirt was a nod to linebacker Gary Plummer, who played for San Francisco from 1994 to 1997 during the final four seasons of his 12-year NFL career. Kittle's phone lock screen was a picture of Plummer wearing a similar T-shirt under his jersey during the 1994 NFC Championship Game.
Plummer spoke to NBC Sports Bay Area on Monday, and shared he is flooded with messages and copies of his famous picture whenever the 49ers and the Cowboys face off. But it took a new turn Sunday night.
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“I just started getting inundated with pictures of Kittle,” Plummer said to NBC Sports Bay Area. “And then clips of the 'Pat McAfee Show' where he gave me credit for coming up with it in ’94.”
The former linebacker couldn’t be more pleased with Kittle connecting 49ers history to the present, admiring the toughness the All-Pro plays with, as well as his spirit.
“You just watch the way he plays the game,” Plummer said. “I just really enjoy it. First of all he’s a trash talker, which I love. And then he plays so hard.”
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Wearing a shirt with any sort of profanity likely will cause a player to be fined by the league. While Kittle likely will face a fine in the near future, Plummer avoided any negative impact on his bank account by taking advantage of technicalities set forth in warnings from the league.
"Someone found out about it,” Plummer said. “I had them delivered. I got out of meetings and Pat Summerall and John Madden were at my locker, and they had already opened up the box. They literally didn’t give me a choice. They said, 'We’re taking one of these.'
“So they had them before the game even started, so the NFL found out about it and they sent me a letter. They said, ‘If you set one foot on the field, you’re going to get fined $50,000.' "
In 1994, the 49ers played at Candlestick Park where players would enter and exit through the San Francisco Giants dugout. So Plummer decided to take the league’s restrictions literally.
Plummer instead wore the shirt standing on the stairs in the dugout prior to the game. And after the 49ers' 38-28 win over the Cowboys that sent San Francisco to its fifth Super Bowl appearance and win, the linebacker pulled up his jersey while exiting the field on his way to the locker room.
“I was standing there with just my T-shirt and pants on,” Plummer said about the pregame photo. “And then as I was walking off the field. So technically, I didn’t wear it during the game, so I did not get fined.”
The 49ers alum shared that he had the shirts made for the defense, a few family members and coaches. Along with Plummer, fellow linebackers Ken Norton Jr. and Lee Woodall donned the garments under their jerseys.
“It was just on defense because we were kind of nasty,” Plummer said. “They were kind of the goody-two-shoes gang on the other side of the ball. Steve Young is not going to wear a 'F--k Dallas' T-shirt. Brent Jones and Harris Barton are not going to, either. There were a couple of guys who were a little bit nasty like William Floyd. But the rest of those guys were too straight-laced.”
Plummer emphasized the purpose of the shirt was more self-motivation as opposed to being derogatory towards the opposing team or an attempt to get under their skin. He added it gave him an edge getting to the level of intensity needed to compete more than trying to play mind games with the player across from him.
“It makes you have to back up that confidence,” Plummer said. “You’re not doing it to degrade your opponent, you’re doing it to make sure you’re at your best. You know when you’re putting yourself out there like that, wearing a shirt like that, you better bring your A-game.”
Kittle appears to have the same mindset as his predecessor. Plummer loves it and hopes that their paths cross in the future. Maybe they will have similar wardrobe choices when they are face-to-face.
“I appreciate the shout-out,” Plummer said. “Maybe sometime in the offseason, we can take a picture with both of us wearing our 'F--k Dallas' T-shirts.”