NFL Recap (San Francisco-Philadelphia)
Posted: Tues November 11, 1997 at 2:27 a.m EST
SAN FRANCISCO 24, PHILADELPHIA 12
Merton Hanks returned a fumble for a touchdown and Chuck Levy
ran a punt back for another score as the San Francisco 49ers won
their ninth consecutive game, 24-12, over the Philadelphia
Eagles.
On Philadelphia's fourth play from scrimmage, linebacker Lee
Woodall's hit caused Ricky Watters to fumble the ball at the
Eagles 36-yard line. The ball bounced to Hanks, who picked it
up at the 38 and sprinted to the end zone for his third career
TD and a 7-0 lead just 67 seconds into the game.
Levy fielded a punt from Tommy Hutton and burst up the middle
before cutting to the left for a 73-yard touchdown, giving the
49ers a 21-6 advantage with 4:04 left in the first half.
"I just talked to the team about nine straight and it's
something to be proud of," said San Francisco coach Steve
Mariucci. "It wasn't easy tonight. We struggled on offense but
we made plays in other areas. We got the big punt return from
Chuck Levy. We got the fumble recovery from Mert and our
defense played well as they have been. We did what we needed to
do to win this game."
Steve Young completed 13-of-23 passes for 103 yards and an
interception for San Francisco (9-1), which remained unbeaten
since a season-opening 13-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 49ers had lost their last two regular-season meetings
against the Eagles, but lead the all-time series, 15-6-1.
"It was going to be a hard-fought ballgame," Young said. "We
got some big plays. Merton's big play, Chuck's big play and the
fumbled punt. We changed our game plan dramatically after we
got up. We just got much more conservative. When you get
turnovers and turn them into seven that's a real knife in the
back of the other team."
San Francisco defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield had 3 1/2 of
his team's eight sacks to bring his season total to 12 1/2,
eclisping his career high of 10 1/2, set in his rookie season of
1993.
"It's a mindset going into every game," Stubblefield said. "We
take pride in our run defense. Nobody's going to run the ball
on our defense. That's something we hang our hats on."
Chris Boniol kicked a pair of field goals for Philadelphia
(4-6), which lost for the first time in five home games this
season. Ty Detmer was 13-of-31 for 137 yards and an
interception. Watters was held to a season-low 42 yards on 14
carries.
"It felt like someone passed away," Watters said. "We were
embarrassed on national television and everyone saw us."
Boniol's 28-yard field goal cut San Francisco's lead to 7-3 with
2:39 left in the first quarter. Boniol kicked a 34-yard field
goal to pull the Eagles within 7-6 just 1:44 into the second
quarter. Philadelphia held the Niners to five yards on their
next three plays but Freddie Solomon muffed Tommy Thompson's
punt and safety Curtis Buckley recovered at the Eagles 26.
"This is a tough loss for our football team," said Philadlephia
coach Ray Rhodes. "We started off the game trying to get some
things done but a fumble gave them an early touchdown that put
them up 7-0. Then they get another touchdown off of the muffed
punt and then they had a punt return for a touchdown.
Offensively we struggled. Up front we were not able to make
plays and get people blocked."
Three plays later Garrison Hearst's one-yard plunge gave the
49ers a 14-6 lead 5:34 into the second quarter. Hearst rushed
26 times for 77 yards. Gary Anderson kicked a 31-yard field
goal four seconds before halftime, giving the Niners a 24-6
bulge. Darnell Walker intercepted a pass from Detmer and had a
10-yard return to the Philadelphia 36 to set up the field goal.
It was the 334th career field goal for Anderson, moving him past
Jan Stenerud for second place on the all-time list.
Philadelphia backup Bobby Hoying threw a six-yard TD pass to
Chad Lewis with 74 seconds to go. Hoying threw an incomplete
pass on a two-point coversion attempt and San Francisco running
back Terry Kirby recovered Boniol's on-side kick.
"I felt pretty good out there tonight," Hoying said. "It's been
a while since I played in the preseason. I was happy because
it's easy for an offense just to kind of lay down when a backup
quarterback comes in but everyone continued to play hard. I
just wanted to play hard and have the guys rally around me."
Eagles wide receiver Irving Fryer caught nine passes for 138
yards and moved past Gary Clark (699) for ninth place on the
all-time receptions list with 707. His 10,940 career receiving
yards also pass Clark (10,856) for ninth place on the all-time
list.
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