Three weeks in the future. And 60 years in the past.
That is what is in play as Atlanta Falcons sensation Kyle Pitts tries to break the record for the most receiving yards by a rookie tight end in a season.
It's a pretty amazing thing as it stands, as in another time and place in the NFL, it is a record set by Chicago’s Mike Ditka in 1961. Fewer games. Different rules. New world.
But there sits Ditka with the record with 1,076 receiving yards.
And here comes Pitts.
“This guy is one of the superstars of the NFL already ... he'll break all the tight end rookie receiving records,'' Patriots coach Bill Belichick recently said of Pitts. ... and he might be right enough soon.
Through 14 games, Pitts has 847 receiving yards. That already makes him one of the top five ever in this particular category. The Falcons have three more games to play, and while obviously the top priority is team-oriented (as unlikely as an NFL Playoffs berth now seems), it would surely be fun for Falcons fans, and for Pitts and his teammates, to be a part of this accomplishment.
Pitts is on pace to finish this season with 1,029 yards. That obviously wouldn't put him up and over Ditka, but it would put him in second place behind the Hall of Famer.
Again, comparisons from different eras are rarely pure and fair. If we think of Pitts as a sort of "unicorn'' now, think what Ditka must have been over the course of a 14-game season, in an era when the passing game didn't rule and when tight ends were often glorified blockers.
But all of these numbers further justify the Atlanta choice of "just a tight end'' with the No. 4 overall pick in last April's NFL Draft. Because Kyle Pitts, like Mike Ditka before him, obviously isn't "just a tight end.''
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