Costly victory
49ers 'hurting' after easy win over Giants
Posted: Tuesday December 01, 1998 09:01 PM
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49ers coach Steve Mariucci consoles Bryant Young before the Pro Bowl tackle is wheeled off the field AP |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The 49ers had the game well in hand. Terrell Owens had provided
the spark Jerry Rice
said was lacking. Garrison
Hearst was running wild and Steve Young was running the
show.
Then Bryant Young
broke his leg, casting a pall and reducing the 49ers' 31-7 victory over the
New York Giants on
Monday night to almost an afterthought.
Young, San Francisco's best defensive player, was lost midway through the
fourth quarter with a broken right leg. Replays showed the leg bent
backwards as he collided with linebacker Ken Norton Jr. as they
closed in to tackle a scrambling Kent Graham.
"I heard a crunch," Graham said. "I heard he was obviously in pain. It's
one of those situations you hate to see a fellow football player go down
like that. I told him I would be praying for him. He was hurting big-time."
Players from both teams watched grimly as medical personnel huddled over
Young, gingerly put him on a gurney and wheeled him off the field. He was
taken to Stanford Hospital.
Coach Steve Mariucci said Young would undergo surgery and was done for
the season.
"It was an awful injury," Mariucci said. "Bryant is a tough guy. If
anybody can make it back from an injury like that, he can -- but not this
year."
Owens caught a 79-yard touchdown pass from Steve Young and Garrison
Hearst ran for 166 yards on 20 carries to go over 1,000 yards rushing for
the second straight season in San Francisco's 15th straight regular-season
win at home.
A Giant start: Gary Brown's (right) 11-yard scoring run gave the Giants an early 7-0 lead AP | |
"We just had a nice game other than the big injury," said Steve Young,
who completed 19 of 33 for 253 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for
62 yards.
The victory clinched a 16th straight winning season for the 49ers (9-3)
and kept them a game behind first-place Atlanta in the NFC West with four
remaining.
The Giants (4-8) started fast but then faded, much like they have this
season after winning the NFC East last year. Graham had a 48-yard
completion to Ike
Hilliard on their first play and three plays later, Gary Brown bolted 11 yards
up the middle for a touchdown.
"I thought we competed hard but we just didn't get it done," New York
coach Jim Fassel said.
New York, with the second-worst offensive ranking in the league, couldn't
sustain its advantage against a 49ers team that fell behind for the seventh
time in nine games.
Owens, who finished with five catches for 140 yards, turned a short flat
pass from Young into a score to pull into a 7-all tie with 2:39 left in the
first period.
The fleet Owens, now perhaps the 49ers' most dangerous receiver, blew
past Conrad Hamilton
near the line of scrimmage and pulled free of Sam Garnes' grasp at the
30. Suddenly, he was running free down the left sideline and into the end
zone.
"I gave 'em a little juke here and there to get free," Owens said.
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Oh to be Young: The San Francisco quarterback threw two touchdown passes in the first half AP |
After being held to three catches for 27 yards in last week's 31-20 win
against New Orleans, an exasperated Rice said he felt left out of the
offense and implied San Francisco could reverse its sluggish starts by
throwing more passes his way. He finished Monday night's game with three
catches for 25 yards.
"He's fine. He knows we're all working together to win a championship,"
Steve Young said. "Next week, he might catch 15."
The 49ers opened the game with a no-huddle for the first time this season
and Young went to Rice several times early. Near the end of San Francisco's
third series, Young tried to force the ball to a double-covered Rice near
the goal-line and Carlton
Gray knocked it away.
"There were plenty of balls thrown his way," Owens said. "We just didn't
take advantage. If we come out with a win, we're happy and he's happy."
Owens' touchdown reversed a sputtering offense that had led to just two
missed field goals by Wade Richey.
But the 49ers didn't take the lead for good until they put together a
90-yard drive that Young finished with a 1-yard scoring pass to Irv Smith for a 14-7
halftime lead.
San Francisco added another score on Terry Kirby's 7-yard run midway
through the third quarter and Richey kicked a 39-yard field with 10:07
left. Then Hearst sealed things with a 70-yard TD run with 3:09 remaining.
But before that, he became the first 49ers back since Roger Craig
(1988-89) to rush for 1,000 yards in successive seasons and now has 1,105
yards for the season. Extra points
Monday night's game was the first one Dwight Clark missed in 19 years
with the 49ers as a player and front-office executive. He left the team
Monday for a job with expansion Cleveland. ... The 49ers took a 12-11 lead
in the regular season series with the Giants. The teams have split six
postseason meetings. ... San Francisco has won five straight Monday night
games. ... The Giants fell to 3-2 in games in which they scored first. ...
The Giants Chris
Calloway has caught at least one pass in 43 straight games.
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