1994 Week 12 - L.A. Rams at San Francisco

49ers have won the toss they will receive and that's tony zendejas teeing it up [Applause] dexter carter the primary return man sixth in the conference averaging nearly 25 yards a return he's back there with derrick laville laville number 20 carter 35 and we are set to go from the stick [Music] [Applause] carter comes up and takes it to 12. runs into his own blocker and is down at the 28 yard line take a look at the 49er offense steve young's quarterback rating the highest in the league 103. it's been over 100 the last three years the first time that's ever happened in two years jerry rice may own every significant receiving record in the history of this game he's working on nine straight thousand yard seasons and bart oates is the only lineman to start every game this group riddled by injuries is finally starting to get healthy [Applause] water picks up about three brought down at the 31 the late flag on the play that's going to be for a face mask mike it looks like the 49ers want to come out and sort of take a look and see what the rams are doing they know they like to change up a lot from the previous games where the the 49ers have looked at some film so they're not going to give them the same look [Applause] face mask number 56 on the defense 5 yards still first down shane connell in the middle linebacker let's take a look at the rams defense robert young little known underrated has better numbers than his more famous teammates six and a half sacks tenth in the conference you've already seen conlan he's given the rams an excellent run stopper with 68 tackles he is number one on the club we'll look at the secondary after this floyd was the man in motion the throw to rice and rice bang down at the 49-yard line by strong safety marquez pope gain of 12. that little move right there is not typical jerry rice the catch is typical jerry rice but the animation at the end does not this is just the quick post coming out hard he comes off the ball on todd light punches pushes it inside makes the reception takes the hit for marquez poke and then jumps up and gives the first down signal spotted at the 49-yard line young straight back with time and incomplete intended for taylor a flag down as he went up with henley taylor came down very hard and slow to get up and henley is pleading his case and it will go against hamlet well that's certainly not what the rams wanted they've had two penalties that pass interference number 20 on the defense down daryl henley against john taylor he's in bump and run he hits him at the line now he's moving along uh i don't absolutely horrible call to me that was nothing more than incidental contact should not have been passing through i agree with you here's waters waters will get a couple let's take a look at the rest of the rams defense with the secondary the trade for marquez pope brought toughness and big plays to that group he leads them with a career-high three interceptions this year and with light and henley at the corners they can cover man-to-man 49ers on the opening possession of the ball game second and six from the 32 floor the waters to split a pick out to back and henley takes him out of bounds at the 23-yard line it will be another first down mike the rams wanted to come out tonight they realize that the 49ers script their first 20 or 21 plays they wanted to give them different looks and i think what george dreyer wants to do is change things up make the 49ers stop and think a little bit make them make adjustments and take them out of their rhythm sean gilbert the third year pro out of pittsburgh outstanding defensive lineman and the rams have really improved themselves on defense this year young to throw against the blitz right to the 10. and they are operating on all cylinders they just have so many weapons here's a shot from our goal post cam what's the right part of your screen jerry rice is going to come in conlan drops into the middle and there's the void created when the linebacker moves now steve young releases the football in an interesting way see how a lot of people he comes across his body now that's a little bit unusual because a lot of quarterbacks will bring the ball down not across their body another first down waters behind floyd ouch stokes stood him up got some help kelly was in there roman pfeiffer who they described as their best defensive player this year got the first hit named after roman gabriel inside the 20-yard line nobody better than the san francisco 49ers and you can imagine with those weapons with the wide receivers brent jones and waters who do you try to stop 77 [Applause] [Music] face a second down from the nine here young with a roll in the flat to right can't avoid going out of bounds and does so at the seven one of the problems that the 49er off offense presents mike is they go to so many different people we've seen him go to rice on quick post we've seen him go to taylor on the other side of the field the one guy they've not gone to in the last couple games very much down here is brent jones because he's been assigned to help out with the offensive line as it was depleted so i would look for him to get back into the offense here and even with those extra duties jones has a career-high six touchdown catch third down the rams would love to hold him to a field goal young to throw quick touchdown taylor there are times when this offense looks simply unstoppable there are times when it is john taylor's just going to run the quick post they're working on todd light left part of your screen young sets his feet gets the ball out taylor does a terrific job of shielding henley from the ball until he gets his body in between the ball and henley that's the key to a great receiver all steve young did on the drive five out of five for 43 yards rice caught three taylor caught two including the touchdown and wilms meyer adds the extra point it took the 49ers three minutes and 55 seconds to score on the opening drive espn's sunday night nfl is brought to you by black decker the source of powerful gift ideas by panasonic's smooth operator wet dry razors smoother than you'd ever thought you'd be and by american honda who has been making quality automobiles in america for the past 12 years [Music] seven nothing 49ers as they score on a long march after the opening kickoff and have the lead over the rams and steve young brilliant on the opening drive as he was a week ago and finally getting the respect here in san francisco that he has around the rest of the country at the 19 on a very short kick follows the wedge to the 38-yard line [Applause] take a look at the rams offense because of injuries chris miller hasn't been able to settle into the offense but when he's been healthy throughout his career he's been one of the best jerome bettis is the russian game 827 yards the nine other players who have carried the ball a combined 176. injuries and personnel decisions have created a very inexperienced offensive line tom newberry the only man with more than 12 career starts excellent field position for los angeles [Applause] that was just a simple case of miller holding onto the ball a little too long and chris miller is hurt push is going to go up the middle young just beats his man at the line of scrimmage that was daryl ashmore winds up right in miller's lap boy that's the last thing the rams need they do not need to lose another one of their starting quarterbacks miller already came in with a nerve injury in his shoulder as tommy maddox is warming up and he's still suffering the effects of a concussion earlier in the season we already told you chandler is out with a sprained ankle he tried to work out before the game but just couldn't go on that bad ankle has pretty good numbers this year too and just a couple of days ago they signed jamie martin a first year player out of weber state to act as their third quarterback all of a sudden now he's their second and miller very gingerly coming off the field when he's been healthy he's been a terrific quarterback that has had health problems throughout his career and the interesting thing too mike is when he came here they had concerns about his knees because that's really why he won't come here because it was go to los angeles a grass field then all of a sudden he's had shoulder problems concussion problems not knee problems this is the sixth time this year the rams have had to replace the starting quarterback because of injury six times in 11 games pretty tough to keep consistency that way and maddox the former bronco who came out of ucla early is on shovel alain lange makes nice moves and gets it back up to the 40-yard line lang is in there for the injured johnny bailey take a look at the 49er defense dana stubblefield building on last year's rookie performance his seven sacks five in the last five games is number seven in the conference ken norton jr was acquired from dallas to help stop the run and he has second on the team and tackles with 52 merton hayes coming up a career game against the cowboys tied to the nfc lead with five intercepted third and eight for the ranch maddox with time complete over the middle tension in san francisco territory shaking tacklers to the 20. todd kenshin a gain of 40. pretty good throw from matt it really was nice job by kenshin getting inside also maddox hung in the pocket really well he sits in there really comes back late you see the move inside on hanks now he does an excellent job of picking up a few more yards misses mcdonald finally toy cook gets him down griffith checks in and jerome bettis hasn't carried the ball yet [Applause] matic throws low and the officials staring at each other it appears to be complete detroit drayton the tight end mike you brought a really good point betis has not touched the football interesting strategy by the los angeles rams everybody knows jerome bettis in perception is the offense of the rams absolutely what they want to do is come out and spread the ball around for example on this play they're going to go to the right part of your screen to the tight end which acts as a six yard run it is a catch [Applause] [Applause] was funny last night he said the first quarter is the pounding period and it was it was such an entertaining and yet an evil smile when he said it he just goes out and beats him up he looks for somebody to hit he does not look for people early in the game to avoid he wants to see somebody with a 30 or 40 number and he gets this little look in his eye like your mind he didn't mind hitting the guys with the 70s or 80s either [Applause] third and three as the rams try to answer the 49ers opening drive and maddox is going to burn a timeout the play clock was about to run out on it we've got a timeout on the field seven nothing niners [Music] chris miller went out with a bad ankle but tommy maddox has come off the bench cold and hit all three of his passes for 43 yards and has his club down at the 14-yard line of course maddox was with the broncos in the age of the salary cap they wanted him to take a pay cut he didn't want to do it so they traded him to the rams for a fourth round pick in 1995 and right now the rams are finding out if it was worth it four-man rush maddox for the end zone nearly picked off mcdonald got a hand on it so did davis and the first incompletion by either quarterback here in the first period tom maddox got away with one here what i mean by that is he got lucky this wasn't picked off remember he didn't work much in practice he couldn't have he's looking all the way he sees the corner route now this ball is flat a little davis goes up to make a play on it but i'll tell you isaac bruce does a nice job just to get his hands in there to knock the ball away from davis and mcdonald zendejas comes out for a 31-yard field goal and knocks it through so the rams answered the touchdown with a 31-yard field goal they get on the board with 7 40 to go first quarter back in a moment the most famous site in san francisco one of the most famous in the world the golden gate bridge so many things that catch your eye in this beautiful city and tommy maddox talking with the folks upstairs after leading that drive and joe you made a good point about he couldn't have gotten much work the second quarterback rarely gets any let alone the third [Applause] across the 30 to the 32-yard line adam walker one of the up men takes it take a look at the drive as maddox came in off the bench with miller hurt big play on third down to todd kinchin tommy maddox hangs in the pocket really nice he wants to go out to the right comes back to kitchen crossing left to right and now he does an excellent job of picking up additional yards after he makes burton hanks miss so the 49ers back in business at their own 33. [Applause] waters and floyd are the pump fake bats young escapes doesn't escape the second hit brought down by henley at the line of scrimmage but he avoided the sack what a terrific job by both the front to put pressure on young but then the secondary when steve young escapes he and randall cunningham are the two most dangerous guys i think when they run young certainly can tuck and go nice job by henley steps into the pocket good push up front i got him no i don't now he's still looking still looking down the field but daryl henley doesn't take the bite hits him where he gets them down in the five and robert young just knew he had his seventh and a half set to the ground game with floyd the rookie out of florida state who carried very rarely in college but his talents were not missed by the scouts and shane conlon makes the tackle you know my part of that drive in the first the first drive they had here in the first quarter they finally have their offensive line back intact sopolo's back in there steve wallace harris barton of course brent jones has had to do double duty more as a blocker than a pass receiver the only guy they're missing is ralph tam and now they go to four wide receivers on third and six [Applause] young with a quick pass to rice jerry trying to get more yards after the catch is up to the 48 for a first down todd light was there along with henley you know what you do mike you can't stop this i think you have to realize it when steve young gets the ball out this quick and jerry young has a jerry rice has a clean release does a nice job getting inside a light now what you have to do is you can't let him break away that's where he's so dangerous oddly enough it was a good completion but it was a good defensive play because rice couldn't get any additional yards ted thompson number 85 checks in as a second tight end along with young as they go with two wide receivers in the single setback that's waters [Music] pump fake waters out of the backfield to the ram 44. shane conlon made the tackle we understand miller has a contusion on his knee and will return to the next series they say he'll be back in there i'll tell you though if something does happen to him tommy maddox will have already had the adrenal level adrenaline level jacked up twice as much and he'll be ready to go right now the concern for the rams is defense they have shown no signs of stopping san francisco in two consecutive possessions [Applause] rams has done a pretty good job stopping the run this year their ninth in the league less than a hundred yards joe kelly picked up as a free agent from the raiders was in on that stop chuck knox knows he's pretty close with this ball club robert young does an excellent job what he's going to do he's going to stand up har uh barton right here and get him all he has to do is have the stalemate that's exactly what we want now here comes the help from our friends that's exactly what you're looking for they'll measure for the first down and it is first down san francisco near the rams 42. [Applause] they have defensive lineman can get a stalemate on a double team that means that they've done their job and they've got some size on that defensive line too averaging about 280 pounds young goes left taylor writes put the backs rice and a comebacker and can't hold it one of the few times you will see jerry rice get his hands on the ball and not hold it like one of the keys to at least containing the san francisco offense is to try and make sure that if the guys do catch the football that you're going to tackle them and don't allow additional yards here it is yards after the catch denver has san francisco has 140 they're the game average leaders denver's up there kansas city green bay and cleveland three of the five in the top five are just west coast offerings and these are perfect skill guys to get yards after the catch too young under some pressure the waters in the flat nice move to get loose ricky waters forced out of bounds it looks like about a half yard shy of a first down anthony newman finally got him robert young number 76 goes inside and around harris barton now he tries to run him off terrific job by steve young releasing the ball knows exactly where his receivers are good catching concentration by ricky waters and there's nine yards 10 yards after the catch third down and less than a yard for the 49ers go with three wides and spread the field leave waters behind young [Music] once you spread out the defensive line it leaves gaps and he just went for one of them you know everybody says why do you do that with the steve young like last week against the of the against the dallas cowboys why would you design balls for him to run with the football because he can that's why he has the ability to do it he's just going to get up he's just going to get right in this gap right here and there's going to be a wedge and he's going to get the first down that's all there is to it he just finds the holes he sees a gap he just says i'm going to follow the guards and go he was safer running last week when he was dropping back in the pocket floyd caught up by gilbert a yard behind the line of scrimmage and big sean doesn't let him go anywhere gilbert says the front four for this team simply has to get it done and against the 49ers you have to try to upset the rhythm of that offense he realizes this san francisco offensive line does a great job of trying to cut and get down low there he is he just goes around the movement of jesse sapolo the left guard and makes the play second and ten no gain [Applause] [Music] young with a quick release for rice panda on a linebacker roman pfeiffer had to make the tackle mike we talk about different plays in a game different opportunities in a game that come up this is an opportunity for the los angeles ram defense to stop san francisco's offense right here this is a big big play in this game for them it's third down in three what they do here depends on whether the 49ers get close and get a chance for a touchdown or force them to at least try a field this is a big play right here i think you're absolutely right even though there's only a minute 51 to go for first quarter if you fall too behind too far behind these guys you're in a lot of trouble there's a timeout 7-3 san francisco back in a moment you're seven to three over the rams we talked in the beginning of the broadcast the only threat to the uh to the 49ers tonight may be a letdown after all that emotion certainly haven't seen any signs of it and they're being very professional about it they are they're very business-like in their approach to mike they want to try and get on top of the rams early make them play ketchup that's why this is such a crucial play right here third and three [Music] nice play call after the timeout where do you start to defense this offense i mean george seifert has the luxury of standing there watching and orchestrating it but where where do you start to defend rice on one side taylor on the other good double team at times sean gilbert doesn't get any penetration of the stalemate [Applause] now what makes jerry rice so good todd light said he's an entire football player and that means blocking when you're not in the play there he is working down the field to help his teammate and [Music] wide open brent jones and he couldn't hold it the only two completions young has had tonight have been perfectly throwing balls [Applause] you know you get down inside the red area and you set certain plays up this is a bootleg naked boot frank jones out in the flat just turned his head before he tucked it away watch pfeiffer come on the right side normally he's the cover guy this one's coming right into your living room there it is right in my hands up gone [Applause] second [Applause] [Music] touchdown [Applause] 134 career touchdowns for jerry rice chasing don maynard's or he's chasing don maynard's uh record in another category he of course holds that record all by his lonesome 134 10 years jerry kept all the balls that he scored touchdowns with he'd have a whole room full of them i just saw him walk up with another one excuse me doug bryant for the point after and he knocks it through steve young of course a left-handed quarterback so his strength is going to be sprinting to the left before they ran the bootleg with a little misdirection here they just come out now you've got a linebacker basically trying to cover jerry rice and i'd have to say that roman pfeiffer got himself caught in a mismatch young gets it off before anybody can get any penetration jerry knows where the stick is emotion from the san francisco 49ers there's something rare and unusual but not this year [Applause] 14-3 49ers pfeiffer twice in the first quarter has been caught on jerry right the rams answered the last score with the field goal of their own [Music] they are going to need more than field goals before this one right got to put some balls in the end zone [Applause] and lang takes it out to the 37-yard line every sunday nfl game day comes your way chris berman tom jackson chris mortensen joe dyson phil sims in a cast of thousands provide the best pre-game show in the nfl then at seven o'clock back with prime time all the highlights of all the games then at eight o'clock joe and i will be at the hoosier dome next sunday as the colts host the patriots both of whom had huge wins today we'll get a look at two of the nfl's rising stars marshall faulk and drew bledsoe miller is back in the quarterback after having his ankles handed to dumps it off to betis bettis across midfield to the 49. jerome venice has 18 past receptions coming into this game he does have exceptional hands sure he's their workhorse as a running back but he has the versatility to be able to do something with the football as a pass receiver and he loves being in an open field looking for those little defensive backs straight up the middle and ken norton jr right there with a perfect tackle we've completed the first quarter here at the stick 14-nothing 49ers 14-3 49ers ken norton jr in our sunday night spotlight for more on that here's mark malone well thanks mike norton hasn't been much of a factor because the rams are throwing the football but he has been a factor against the pass as we take a look at some of the video on the first drive chandler has to hold the football hey this is a covered sack and i'll tell you exactly why ken norton as we look right here jumps all over drayton line uh the tight end and forces miller to hold on to the football in the shovel pass he tries to outrun the block by newberry and misses the tackle on lang but so far having an impact in this football game mike all right thank you mark first quarter the rams have passed the ball six times and run it twice diving to the 44. let's go back to mark yeah mike you were talking about those numbers so far the rams have run a total of eight plays they've only run the ball twice norton has two tackles and he has a missed tackle so he is having some impact even though they're not running the football as much as we thought they would early on mike well mark if bill parcells can imitate eric coryell why not chuck knox chuck said he's going to do whatever it takes to move the ball come out with a little bit of a different game plan than everybody expected third and four miller goes to the shotgun here comes the blitz miller unloads to lang and he dropped it had the first down he was wide open there's a flag down on the play this is going to be roughing the quarterback ken norton jr had a shot at miller i'm almost positive he gives him a whacking ahead and that's going to get you 15. [Applause] here's red cashion personal foul roughing the passer number 51 on the defense 15 yards first down lane gets out of there norton comes free miller does a good job of getting rid of the football but see there's a little touch that i really think that is wrong i think that that should not be a penalty i think if you fragrantly hit a guy in the head it should be a penalty i do not believe touching a quarterback's helmet should be a penalty i don't agree i can sympathize with it but that's what the rule is and they have to call it i don't agree with it [Applause] play action by miller intended for the rookie isaac bruce but overthrown in the end zone covered by eric davis [Applause] first quarter numbers ramses only two first downs to 49ers with 10 and over 100 total yards in offense but look at the rushing yard i think that's true i think that is a telltale sign of what the rams have tried to do they've tried to change their game plan up a little bit figuring the 49ers would expect them to run well you know they come out with an eight-man front looking for betis second and ten miller chased out of the pocket throws on the run has bruce inside the 20 to the 18. that's close another first down norton on the coverage and they love isaac bruce all the coaches say he is going to be a big time player his college coach had something interesting to say about him all he said is he he makes the game simple he gets open and he catches the football they could have had trent dilfer in the draft but the rams traded down twice and when it came their turn to pick isaac bruce out of memphis state was right there it is another first down spotted at the 18-yard line miller into a crowd bruce makes the catch at the 10. mcdonald had visions of a pick and couldn't quite get there as he and eric davis combined on the tackle that's interesting makes you wonder which side of the field dion sanders is on dion is on flippery anderson flipper's their best receiver dion takes them away one-on-one okay now over on the left side chris miller's got double coverage with davis and mcdonald and he still winds up throwing the football out to that side that's how much respect deon sanders gets from everybody second and two miller to throw for the end zone and overthrown intended for jesse hester now i i got to tell you something i don't know if i agree 100 with chick harris the offensive coordinators play selection right there i think maybe on second and two now i pound jerome get the first down give myself two or three more shots down here because now you've got to come up with a play for the first half i think chick was going for six there which is fine but finally the percentages would have gone that way the rams have thrown the ball 10 out of 13 plays face a third and two here better from the draw lost his balance went down at the 10. and miller is already signaling to the sideline let's go for it i don't think chuck's going to do it i think he's i think he kicked the field goal here i think he got a rhythm going why why deflate the offense from coming away empty i think a good decision here would be to kick the field goal so zendejas who's already hit one comes on to try one from 27. maddox the holder with chandler out [Applause] one through off the left upright that's hard i give him a lot of credit that's hard to do to hit the inside of the left upright thicket through sandejas and the rams breathe a sigh of relief as they get the bounce [Music] espn's sunday night nfl is brought to you by pep boys for quality parts accessories and service come to pep boys america's automotive super center by radio shack you've got questions we've got answers and by savanne 100 cotton no wrinkle clothing [Music] defenses haven't stopped anybody yet clubs marching up and down the field the rams with two field goals the 49ers with two touchdowns and that's how we have a 14-6 score and zendejas with a short kick very short departure carter with a scene flag is down and carter out of bounds at the 42. that push in the back is going to be against dana hall number 28. [Applause] holding during the run back number 27 of the receivers 10 yards first down at 10. 27 is adam walker there's hall 28. yeah he was he was in the mix too play selection for air knocks four runs ten passes i think it would be except against a team like the 49ers you have to change up you can't come in doing what you normally do [Applause] trying to get outside strung out nicely by joe kelly who makes the tackle and now pushing and setting after the play kelly definitely is a guy who likes to mix it up i think it's important his teammates get him away from ricky waters because ricky has a short fuse as well yep see this is what bothers me sometimes guys make a great play like joe kelly makes a great play you go out take a swing say something you get an unsportsmanlike penalty against you you defeat the purpose of a great play second and ten for young straight back with time short over the middle right again covered by a linebacker that was shane connor you cannot i mean the most defensive backs in this lake cannot cover jerry rice they've got linebackers on it yeah but the problem is mike is you can't go one-on-one so really what he's doing is he's being chased by a linebacker in the zone but the big thing that sets this up is steve young has got passing lanes the offensive line does an excellent job of creating a lane 10 lane to the left he has right out to the left is a lane that he's able to throw through that's very important that a quarterback has a clear vision first down from the 37. rice with another short check to taylor taylor up to the 48-yard line should be another first down roman feifer the linebacker got a hand on they have just so much confidence in the quick post to both the wide receivers that one was not a perfectly thrown ball it hit the back number instead of the front number hit the four instead of the eight for the two instead of the eight steve young has been absolutely superb the two incompletions were flat out drops he could easily be 14 for 14 here in the first half waters barely got the handoff losing ground and now will go down all the way back inside the 40-yard line robert young simply wouldn't let him outside this guy was having a great year last year before a knee injury seven sacks in the first four games robert young does an excellent job right here firing up the field what he's going to do and as the sweep goes this way he doesn't allow it anywhere to go comes up the field good penetration takes out the guards disrupts the entire blocking scheme forces ricky to the ground winds up with a big loss second and 18. ed mccaffrey checks in as another wide receiver he's number 81 the former giant four-man rush young wants to scream now throws out in the flat nobody there but the los angeles rams wyman henderson did a great job of defensing the screen and what he did is he did a great job of getting rid of the football don't take a big sack know where you are on the field get rid of the football [Music] and got away with not having a flag thrown on it two third and 18. i would also again now on third and long i would not look for steve young to hold the ball wrong look for him to get it off quick and allow his receivers to run with it [Applause] rams come with a three-man front young steps up right and he may have the first down he does there's a flag down on the play and it will come back that would have been the seventh catch of the game for jerry rice here in the first half illegal use of the hands hands to the face number 74 on the offense 10 yards thank you i'll tell you that number 74 steve wallace is the left tackle rush comes from outside there it is the hands up in the face can't do that on gerald robinson [Applause] now it's third and 28 and wallace because of the concussions wearing that extra crown on the helmet concussions have been a huge problem in the league this year [Music] and got out of bounds nice job by the secondary of los angeles rams steve young had absolutely nowhere to go with the football pound wound up having to eat it and this will bring up the first punt of the ball game with 8 37 to go first half you know it's interesting mike when we talked to steve young on fighting he said the worst thing that can happen is for me to wind up with the football whether it be running around or taking a sack and there was a case of it todd kenshin is back johnny bailey out with an abdominal screen so kitchen will return punts and kickoff gets the high snap and gets it away [Music] not a real good kick but gets the bounce and kitchen is stuffed at the 31 yard line ted pops in the back up tight end downfield to make the tackle punt of 39 return of three they're concerned for the niners last year they allowed 113 rushing yards a game and an nfl worse four and a half yards to carry this year however a major improvement allowing only 92 yards a game on the ground and three and a half yards of carry the reason the run stoppers new niners ken norton junior gary palmer lee woodall ricky jackson and bryant young they haven't had much action tonight the rams have been throwing the football fetish the deep man in the eye gets a carry and they're waiting for him pettis will pick up a couple we talked to ray rhodes the defensive coordinator of the 49ers he said in the beginning of the year they tried to put in a lot of complex coverages and defensive fronts what they've done in the last four or five games because of the new players is simplified now what they've done is they've got their athletes out there playing athletically instead of thinking ray rhodes on the right of your screen tim lester number 34 is in as a blocking back for betis play action by miller plenty of time throws jesse hester at midfield [Applause] inside of eric davis for the catch a gain of 17. that's where a play-action fake to jerome bettis helps you so much it creates the space between the linebackers and the secondary people they have to respect the run fake so they suck up a little bit creating another five yard cushion for you to get the ball in clock running seven minutes 11 seconds to go first half rams down by eight they have the ball to midfield first and ten bettis picks up nearly four to the 49er 46-yard line lee woodall you know it's amazing what they've done on the defensive side of the ball the 49ers they lose a richard dent they go get a charles mann they bring in for their linebackers ken norton jr lee woodall's a rookie and gary plummer so basically all your linebackers are new you get dion sanders to go to corner you move merton hanks back to safety which is a more natural position so really with sanders hanks and davis on the field you've got three corners and ricky jackson charles mann is in the game right now [Applause] here comes the blitz they pick it up and middle with time throwing for hester an overthrown covered by davis 49ers have certainly made brilliant use of the salary cap to boost that defense this year chris miller has a lot of confidence in his offensive line now their patchwork but look at the job they do with the blitz everybody gets on a body so that miller can stand tough in the pocket then he winds up overthrowing the ball a little bit but at least he has the confidence to stand there and make a throw and bettis did a great job on the blitz pickup third and six miller under pressure throws incomplete hester being pressured toy cook was over there on hester number 41. that's somebody else i left off that's right he's a starter for five years down in new orleans now he comes here and he winds up playing nickelback so the rams will have to punt it away for the first time and shawn landetta number one in the nfl 44-9 [Music] dexter carter waits at the 10. signals for the fair catch and makes it a punt of 39 no return still 14-6 san francisco 14-6 49ers over the rams 605 to go first half [Applause] rice and young with a huge first half young 105 yards passing rice has 61 of those yards and seven catches waters cracks up over the 20-yard line marquez pope the safety had to make the tackle waters now nine carries 39 yards the san francisco 49ers offensive line they don't power people they position people they get you out of position and ricky water's whim has gone right by waters again marquez pope comes up and drills him the ball came loose as waters went down hard so did marquez poke that's the 30. a missile the missile is down todd light says his addition to the secondary has been a blessing when he was in college at fresno state he was coached by rod perry the defensive secondary coach of the rams you want to see a safety support watch the right part of your screen at the right there at the right part of your tv a collision oh helmet the helmet had to hat and both of them had to be helped off the field you look at that shot you look at marquez's eyes that's about how they look right now like that deer staring at those headlights toby wright number 32 the rookie will check in at the strong safety spot on second and two [Applause] he's out of nebraska second round draft choice dexter carter gets a chance to run takes it up to the 40 and brought down by toby wright carter a 1990 first round draft choice out of florida state offensive line just gets bodies on people they're just going to get a body on the body and create a little seam so that when carter hits it he's gone everybody on a body nobody go to the ground this time everybody stays up great job by the line he's through it and gone 4 17 to go in the hand [Applause] carter again boy did they seal off the right side and carter rams his way out to the 47. the 49ers wearing those throwback uniforms they are going for their eighth straight victory in those threads and they came from 1955 we were interested check back in the record book 1955 they were four and eight they've been a lot luckier this year than that year well the eight they they sort they'd switch around actually i think it's good you know i mean this is a football team that's trying to create a new identity so they put on a new look [Applause] their identity was created last week against the dallas cowboys [Music] play action by young right conlon makes the tackle in ram territory at the 46-yard line [Applause] podlight told me the way to play jerry rice is you can't jump on him you can't give up the deep one and in this case he's not giving up the deep one he's about five yards off rice makes the reception his eighth of the night remember the two previous games coming into tonight he had 19 catches i think he's trying to get there in one game eight catches 68 yards another first down as the 49ers have reached the los angeles 46-yard line already up 14-6 [Music] again good protection for young over the middle brent jones had it then lost it let's see what the rule is two officials say incomplete one says he was down [Applause] and the incompletions i believe will prevail matt judge being very definitive saying no head linesman or the field judge coming in saying no that's a good job of officials working together right down the middle brent jones great hands extends himself but never really has control i don't think that's a good call never quite gets put away you have to have both feet down with control for it to be a catch he never had the control good job by the official got a timeout 2 30 to go first half 49ers by eight and the fastest three minutes in television with chris berman all the highlights then the injury update on troy aikman's bad knee and then we'll be back to candlestick park for a first half recap the other thing too is remember not only would did aikman go down in that dallas game but rodney pete went down with a finger or thumb or something and they have to play on thursday [Music] [Applause] [Music] at the 35. you know it's interesting mike george dreyer the defensive coordinator of the los angeles rams called brent jones the best tight end in the business excellent hands young's going to go back play action fake to hold the linebacker slides his feet a little brent goes up catches it tucks the ball away and picks up the additional yard will they get up a play before the two minute warning they will not brent jones arguably having the best season of his career has already been to two pro bowls that's a two minute warning thank you for that explanation steve young was arguing the clocks at either end of the field are different we'll check on that when we come back 14-6 just by eight ken norton in our spotlight let's check in with mark malone well one of the reasons mike the rams might be throwing the football obviously they're down but ken norton in the run defense of the niner has been outstanding kenny's allowed now to make line calls putting his players in gaps allowing him to run to the football and take a look at this on a drive earlier he runs through makes the tackling the stop for no gain a little bit later the rams run away from him and watch this no hesitation he scrapes gets an assist on the play he's really playing the run much better in this new scheme and certainly happy to be a 49er first down 49ers at the rams 35 they already lead 14-6 we're at the two-minute mark [Applause] young with a short set again john taylor to the ram 27-yard line where shane conlon makes another tackle having brett jones in there gives you such flexibility because it's almost like having that other wide receiver on the field young with room to run and slides in safely under todd light [Applause] it's almost unfair with all the other weapons that they have that young can run like a halfback it should be two-hand touch if you touch him two hands he should be down first down 49ers another short set and taylor what a great throw that was and henley is hurt [Music] [Applause] this is a deeper post we've seen him run the quicker ones it'll be on the left side as you go back and see young looks down the field he sees they come up on jones now he throws it's low to the post that's what you want to do as a quarterback you want to help your receivers out see how steve holds the safeties and then just glances out this way now the ball comes in low because it's an in pattern the chances of an interception are diminished and also the chances of getting receivers killed are diminished that way both of you the quarterback and the receiver yeah it has been a tough year and a half for daryl henley he is writhing in pain down on the field and come january he will face charges of cocaine trafficking missed last year because of the charges and the rams had to post a bond to get him back on the field to be able to make the travel squad let's get down to mark malone mark yeah mike just to follow up on the norton betis matchup so far the rams have snapped the ball 20 times bettis has carried the ball six times for only 15 yards a little better than two yards to carry total tackles for norton four three of those solos hey could it be that chuck knox has got more respect for ken norton and the 49er run defense than he does for dion sanders guys well i don't know about that mark they haven't thrown that place but they've gone to the other side an awful lot haven't they i think what they've done is they've tried to do something different than they normally do and that's run the football chuck wanted to come out and actually they've done a pretty good job offensively they've moved the ball except you know they've only punted once in the first half that's not too bad defensively you just have a tough time slowing the 49ers down you know we're talking about ken norton jr talk to him about the difference between the cowboy organization and the 49er organization he said the cowboy organization the organization comes first he said the feeling that he has out here in san francisco is that the players come first that's been the big noticeable difference for him and i think that's one of the reasons they were able to get so many players to come here for less money than they may have been making somewhere else because the reputation of eddie de bartolo the way he has run this organization along with carmen policy gary plummer i think put it as well as anybody said everybody should at least have the opportunity to spend a year in the 49er organization and it's interesting he didn't say on the team he said in the organization and henley dragging that left leg as he comes off robert bailey will check in fourth year man out of miami to take his spot there's bayley but you can tell henley is in a lot of pain do you see the new guy and go after him you not only see him you know exactly where he is and you find him see you know a guy who doesn't get a lot of credit george seifert's done a terrific job but mike shanahan is the offensive coordinator and he has done just a fabulous job of spreading the ball around with the different calls right now i [Applause] got a yard and no more jimmy jones the ex-cowboy plugs the gap leads the defensive line and tackles [Music] tough to run inside but jones that one tackled gilbert at the other [Music] young to rice [Applause] every accolade that jerry rice gets he deserves not only is he tremendously talented he's one of the hardest workers you will ever see well it's interesting you know talking to mike shanahan he said he likes to reward the guys that work hard in practice he said he has plays for each of his players waters rice taylor and as the guys work hard in practice when they get down here to pay dirt he rewards him in his own little way rice nine catches 75 yards two touchdowns here in the first half brian converts and the 49ers extend their lead to 21-6 [Applause] i think one of the toughest things to do is cover jerry rice when he's running away from you and that's what happens again you see a linebacker out but now he just waits for traffic to clear and goes underneath todd light doesn't stand a chance he's got to run through a whole lot of his players and his own players doesn't matter now steve young looks down the field see him survey the field and then he just finds jerry through a passing lane and winds up now todd doesn't stand a chance i mean you're really asking a defensive back to chase jerry rice all the way across the field when he only needs five yards to get in the end zone and then when you catch him he's extremely strong he's six to 200 he can pull away from people light said they have to put the heat on early the heat has been absolutely [Applause] the rams will get excellent field position at the 49er 48-yard line as david lang brought it back todd light has the dubious honor of having to face rice twice a year we asked him about his approach you got to be physical with him every time he touches the ball you have to punish him and um you have to tackle him because you can't have any missed tackles against jerry rice because if you're responsible for him and one-on-one coverage and you miss a tackle that could be six very easily and it has been well he made tackles problem is he's only been able to catch up to him in the end zone duran's now with this field position and 32 seconds left have a chance to get on the board again miller wheels out of trouble and will get out of bounds miller used to be a very good runner and he says after two terribly injured knees he says you're not going to see me making too many athletic runs anymore the last one he had in the georgia dome he was actually scrambling and just trying to put a move on no one hit him and he blew the knee out so he said it's great to be with the rams on a grass field that was a major priority he said also they paid me a lot of money he was also very happy last night because the oregon ducks won the pac-10 his school second and two with 25 seconds to go in the half [Applause] wayne will have the first down inside the 38-yard line clock running and they'll use the timeout to stop it with 13 seconds that's poor clock management sure is i mean they lost eight seconds easily eight to ten seconds just by deciding what they want to do the quarterback has got to know and everybody's got to know if we complete this pass i'm going to turn around the referee right now and call the timer they lost eight's ten seconds should be 23 on the clock that gives you at least another play absolutely they really have taken a play away from themselves from the spot of the ball here at the 38-yard line it would be about 55 yards for zendejas so to give him a legitimate shot they need about another 10. yeah but the problem is mike it's got to be a pass towards the sideline that's right if they had 23 seconds to go they could really get their field goal unit on the on the field now they've got to put it on the outside portion of the field somehow and san francisco will load it up out there either that or go for the end zone from the shotgun [Applause] movement by ashmore he's in there because goes is injured and as joe pointed out earlier a patchwork offensive line for the rams the ball was snapped false start right guard five yards still first down no time comes off the clock they'll need about 15 yards now there is goes out of hawaii five-year man [Applause] it's tough when you have to slide your offensive line around clarence jones their left tackle is the only guy who started every game number 72. miller's surviving now he's going to have to get out of bounds and he does with five seconds left just got away from bryant young [Applause] brian young comes off the ball so quick of course they know they have to pass watch him come off the ball he's just going to absolutely fire off the ball watch the quickness this young man has a little bit of a bull rush now you lean and lean and lean you know miller's going to be back there he's not going to run away from anybody i almost think at that point if i was chris five seconds to go fling it down towards the end zone maybe you get lucky [Applause] you're out of options here with five seconds left on the clock trips right formation jump ball and dion wanted it it was tipped over his head and you know he'd have brought it back out of the end zone that's the end of the first half our score 49ers 21 rams six then let's join chris berman for the accurate halftime report jim kelly certainly on the same page certainly writing a new book seven nothing bills in the first quarter on the second position kelly to read 15 yards touch down they'll leave the packers down 17 nothing one of the fourth drive kelly reid i'm in now don't bother me go down bills league 24 nothing hold on for 29 to 20 win andre right 15 catches the fourth best in nfl history meanwhile dolphins at the steelers brian cox fired up move the chains he says we take it up in overtime 13 all mike tomzak making his first start since week one last year the screen to barry bananas foster gets his just dessert with a rumbling stumbling 30 yards times that cooper 343 yards gary anderson 39 yards good in overtime hannah steelers up their mark to eight three as they beat it up at 16-13 browns at the chiefs the hard green was going to be but arrowhead marty shot number c did not lost two in a row at home under his tenure joe montana to tracy green touchdown montana 269 yards and the chiefs lead to cleveland brown they late at 2013 in the fourth quarter mark griffin is sacked by derek thomas it's room sweep well that's down the road in arkansas kansas city beats cleveland 20 to 13. the lightning bolts in their third straight road game at new england dan humphries drew bledsoe how was bledsoe's army 270 passes last week today de leroy tom set up the middle 27 yards of the touchdown pages looking for the upset chris slade sacked humphreys not once not twice but three and a half times chris slade and the patriots upset the chargers 23 to 17. mama we're all crazy now jets at the bike marcus turner seven for the injured aaron glenn you say big deal at corner water moon's gonna torch him i don't think so marcus turner not one not two but three interceptions in this one he cut go off about wait 90 yards moon 400 yards but four picks the science and no picks three touchdowns minnesota 31-21 lions at bears oh my dave wants that last week had curtis conway through a touchdown pass what does he have kevin butler do this time well the butler did it on side kick note with chris gardacki and john mangum force recovers for the bears who held onto the ball for over 44 minutes today against the lions steve walsh looking to tear it out to jeff graham a cracker and waltzer 6-0 as a starter chicago 20 detroit 10 the bears died for the vikings for first in the nfc norris saints at the raiders there's the jury pool raiders first possession haas said jim brown is favored receiver 12 yards touchdown that right is lead seven nothing leading 77 to the fourth quarter hops brown 30 yards it's the saints and the reps get out of here raiders over 500 for the first time all year they beat the saint 24 to 19. falcons at the broncos wade phillips team trying to go to five and six after that awful start three minutes left the broncos trailing 28-25 reggie rolling out of rivers mile high magic it's a fumble no it's it's it's a first down denver keeps the ball elway quarterback draw he's come from behind again denver beats atlanta 32-28 in mile high stadium the colts and the bengals ed marsha brother looking for the magic man don matkowski hot showing a comeback drive four performer drive finishes to sean dawkins eight yards colts leads 17-13 but jeff flake has been magical for the surging bengals can he pull out another city today it's a bomb but looking for darnay scott gets raybu cannon instead colts win 17-13 bucks and the seahawks tom flores team has not won since september that six-game losing streak no time to wallow in the mire they say rick to john bond touchdown 15-nothing seahawks box that lead 21-15 under a minute to go bond and then max strong touchdown the bucks snatched defeat from the jaws of victory losing 22 to 21 to flores and the seahawks eagles at the cards the feathers certainly were going to fly in tempe steve berlin brewing on the sidelines as it was jay straighter at the helm randall cunningham with eagles down 9-3 and he is williams with the sixth interception of the season stymieing the eagles drive then 12-6 arizona late look at calvin williams trying to make the circus catch but his knee is just out of bounds he knew it buddy ball gets stephen with eagles ball arizona beats the eagles this time 12 to six it's the redskins at the cowboys he's got a heck of a gnar starting gus ferrant in big d a week after dallas was beaten by san francisco emmett smith no time in the weight room right he doesn't pull anybody into the end zone seven of the cowboys then 17-7 in the second quarter trey admits hurt more on that in a moment rodney pete he got hurt but before he left he'd do a touchdown to alvin harper cowboys humble the redskins 31-7 the first week of the skins since 85. [Music] momentum they built a week ago against the dallas cowboys coaches in the locker room mike always talk about first series of the game first series of the second half tells you the kind of tone you're going to set for it very critical for the rams to get something out of this one and you can see the light rain falling behind doug bryant more of a mist than anything else [Music] kenshin from the 14. [Applause] horsepower to 29. let's check in with mark malone mark well thanks mike just uh i think it's time now to take a look at ken norton in the first half and put a wrap on him he's been asked to do a lot of things tonight he's done them all well versus the rush here he is again we showed you earlier shooting the gap making the shot on betis for no gain at all very confident in his rush mode getting coverage he's done everything he's played man he's played zone right there he puts the hit on keeps the running back in bounds he's just done a superb job tonight we'll come back and wrap him up in just a second mike hi martin he is a quality football player that they picked up for a free agency griffith and vettel from the back quick enough to take it outside and strong enough to run over people let's go back to mark yeah let's wrap up these numbers too mike total number of plays for los angeles 24 betis has carried the ball six times for 15 yards about a little over two yards of player 14 plays in pass coverage norton has been when they've rushed the ball he's made five tackles four solos la's going to have to throw the football we're going to switch our spotlight now to dion sanders and the effect he'll have on this football game mike all right mark good choice he's virtually taking away flipper anderson from the shopkins they go the other way to griffith and griffith taken down by mcdonald halftime numbers for you from the stick passing yards for the rams 96 only 23 yards rushing and the time of possession more than double for san francisco and 19 first downs to only six for the ram i think something there you look at four out of five on third down conversions for san francisco they've not had many third and three as miller goes to the shotgun 49ers may have jumped miller throws complete they've got the first down jesse hester out of bounds at the 48-yard line no flag on the play [Music] and mark thomas got back after he jumped early chris miller came out of this out in the game they did not feature jerome bettis like we thought they decided to take another route and what they did is they wound up throwing the ball as you can see out to the left four out of five deion sanders has been over here and that's part of the problem he's gone away from dion [Applause] hit in the backfield and dumped gary plummer nearly a hundred tackles a year for his career in san francisco or with san diego before he came here got him primarily as a run stop gary plummer number 50. all he's going to do is fire the gap you try and run this way he's waiting for you he just shoots it he beats the trapping guard that's all it was made up his mind to go and he went bettis now eight carries 15 yards less than two a pop it's gonna mark man miller throws sideline complete about two yards shy of the first down flipper anderson makes the catch that's his first of the night i think about the only way that you can complete passes on dion is to force him off the ball he's in man-to-man coverage gets that legal chuck now flipper starts stops now he comes back to the ball keeping dion behind him when i talked to chris miller he felt the best way to work against deon is on comebacks that's exactly what he threw there third down about two cuts it back inside the 30 stone it feeds the 20. breaks a tackle touchdown holy cow what a brilliant run by todd kinchen you know you know what that was mike that was simply a guy who was not going to be denied versus a defense that thought well he'll go down and what a great call too a little play action fake of course everybody's now he starts out to the right cuts back into the middle got great vision downfield picking up some blockers and he's just not going to stop he doesn't care what's going to happen and howard griffith number 30 was downfield to throw a block for him that may have gotten him into the end zone what a terrific effort rod middleton checks into the lineup as the second tight end with a score 21-12 they're out to go for two trips right [Applause] [Music] miller looking for hester and overthrow they ran a little big play and hester was open but miller missed so it's 21-12 the rams back in it after todd kitchen brilliant 44-yard run [Music] espn sunday night nfl is brought to you by american airlines something special in the air by mcdonald's what you want is what you get at mcdonald's today and by cadillac and your cadillac dealer creating a higher standard mike patrick joe theismann mark malone our espn crew with you from the stick it's 2112 49ers [Music] taken by and he fights his way out to the 29-yard line mike the 49ers are good but they can't play one man short that's what happens one two three four five six seven eight nine ten deion sanders should be right there but he's not without that extra defensive back there's a void there should have been somebody right there for kinshin but this is just great individual effort just cutting back looking for daylight and there's dion coming out in a short yardage substitution situation except nobody came back in carter fighting for more yards got it out to the 35-yard line marquez pope injured earlier back into the ballgame makes the tackle kitchen out of lsu call him the stealth bomber in baton rouge first time in his career he is rushed for a touchdown made a big reception in the first half and it's the same type of running to pick up extra yards to set him up for the field goal don't remember that one for a long time second and four now it's up to the rams defense they haven't stopped san francisco all night long waters trying to get outside and camp nice defensive job by joe kelly there was a case mike where ricky waters at different times when he has the ball thinks that he can outrun defensive players instead of staying up and trying to pound the ball really like he did last week against dallas he thinks he can run the edge now he takes this it's a design play to go outside line does a good job of setting up and they contain sean gilbert but he didn't quite cut it up in where he should have been and kelly did a good job to force him wide it's third and two [Applause] that play has worked every time they've run it and obviously you'll notice that it is a sprint out to the left because steve young is left-handed all rice has done is caught 10 for 85 yards and a couple of scores so far what has steve young done with the football you might ask i'll tell you click the left side seven out of eight six out of seven remember he's a left-handed guy so that's where he's gonna go with the football keeps working his side of the field young straight back this time and almost picked off right in the hands of marquez pope would have been his fourth and he should have had that one interesting point george dreyer the defensive coordinator last night said he stressed two things tackling and when we have a chance to make a play we have to make it marquez poke does it there's marquez poke young is looking down the field but he comes back over this way pope reads the move of his eyes now he breaks on the ball he broke before steve ever let it go that was a gift he just gave one back to the 49ers it would have been a big break second and ten show blitz and the play clock runs down that'll cost him five [Applause] and the 49er offense that looks so smooth in the first half showing a couple of chinks here in the second [Music] he said it's a job nobody wants being a defensive coordinator against the 49ers [Applause] second and 15 now to the 28-yard line thanksgiving may be five days away but jerry rice feasts on the rams that's cheating that's just too good this is a perfectly thrown ball and a great release jerry rice wins this at the line of scrimmage see how he freezes israel then he gets up the field now he's running straight up the field not towards the sideline ball is perfectly thrown and winds up with the big completion he beat steve israel who was in there for henley who was still out with a groin pull in the locker room being examined [Music] waters stumbles forward to about the 26. great kelly jane conlon fired in just managed to catch a little bit of ricky waters feet one of the rams players says shane collin always looks like he's been hit by a truck but when the ball is snapped he's there second and eight [Applause] oh boy and now we've got more pushing and shoving you talk about great presence on the field of knowing where everyone is rookie quarterbacks aren't prepared to make these kind of decisions steve young runs a bootleg it's going to be to the right part of the screen he wants john taylor he doesn't have him he moves a little bit to the other other side knows where ricky waters is coming out of the back and the other thing is ricky waters just didn't run a fake and quit he stayed alert for the ball as well and william floyd was the man who threw the downfield block to springer waters tripped up that time jimmy jones who was prone got a piece of him [Music] jerry rice has just gone over 100 yards that's the 47th time in his career number two all time to don maynard who has 50. if you're a receiver and you're in the record book jerry rice has a beat on you he's gonna own all of them every single one second again do a great job of stringing out the run roman piper will get credit for the tackle but he got a lot of help it's funny visiting with jerry on friday michael he said that this year he feels like he can finally relax and he said he feels like we don't have to go out there on offense and score every time we have the ball when the offense comes off the fields he kneels down on the sidelines watches the defense work and realize that that they're going to do their job as well you mean he set all those records while he was tight that's a little scary unbelievable third and 13. rice in motion [Applause] young stepped up in the pocket got away somehow pfeiffer brought him down at the 11. [Applause] pad young dead the rights for the sack and missed it [Applause] and he comes up a little gimpy they do a good job the rams do it getting pressure up the middle they force him from the outside robert young forces him in now he keeps his feet does a good job really sort of stumbling a little bit and that's when you get vulnerable as far as a quarterback scrambling goes fred stokes went right over top of him and now doug bryan who has not had a lot of action this year only 8 out of 11. we'll try one from 28 [Music] [Applause] so young yards get the touchdown this time but they do tack on a field goal 24-12 now oh there you go mike union square downtown look at that nike has that big sign of stiga you know what i noticed hold it they're short a few touchdown passes i'm gonna i'm gonna do him a favor let me see he's got two more coming in and then he's got three tonight okay all right we'll hold it i'll move that back over here there we go there it is now we're up to date there it was steve young 21 touchdown passes so far they're going to need a bigger billboard tripped up got to the 27-yard line so the rams will start with their 6 16 to go third quarter niners by a dozen 16 to go third quarter of play from san francisco where the 49ers have a 12 point lead deion sanders he has allowed one reception tonight covering flipper anderson what a huge difference he has made in the 49er secondary [Applause] rams start from their own 27 under the eye bettis held the 15-yard shakes off ricky jackson can't get away from norton and did not make it back to the line of scrimmage have to feel a little sorry for bettis because there's no way he's going to run against an eight-man front ricky jackson is just coming hard off the corner coming off the left side ricky jackson comes hard inside i mean griffith didn't stand a chance betis does a nice job to get back almost to the line of scrimmage second and 12. has been held to 13 after loss of two miller cranks it up barely under thrown and just knocked away at the last moment by davis intended for isaac bruce who had been beat by a step this is a nice job by eric davis playing the ball isaac bruce comes out now they aren't fighting good incidental contact davis just does a terrific job of going up and maybe just getting a fingernail yup got that little pinky on it knocked it away [Applause] third and 12 for miller throws on the run complete but it's going to be short of the first down kinchen makes the catch now let's check the mark maybe close enough to measure and it will be kitchen has made some big plays tonight [Applause] that was a nice scramble by miller as well mike he gets pushed to the left kitchen just continuing to work does a good job releasing inside of hanks now he just keeps coming and coming he sees his quarterback in trouble now he works to an open area and almost looking at the down marker leaves the ball right there for the official all they had to do was get to the 37 and they did nice job by miller and kitchen a fresh set of downs for the rams and more importantly it keeps young and rice off the field they've got all kinds of different ways to do it basically jerome bettis's running will be taken out of the game with a 12 point lead so you want to spot him can't give up on it completely that time it was a seven-man front they still handle them the tackle by the rookie bryant young everybody was talking about where dion sanders was going to go play football as he went on his tour he wound up here in san francisco and he's been such a great addition by coming in and being the cover corner and talking to merton hanks dion got here and basically said i've got my side of the football field you guys go do whatever you have to do and that's been the approach that the defense has taken they're allowed to double cover the people away from dion and he's created a much more effective defensive scheme derrick davis the other corner betis on the screen room to run gets up ahead of steam and has a first down in midfield i get so excited when i see somebody do something smart jerome bettis on the screen he doesn't just catch the ball and turn blindly watch what he does he will turn turn around hesitate for a second watch this venice is looking now watch what he does this is great see how he turns he doesn't take off and run he hesitates he sets up the blocks for his linemen then he makes the run this is just great running see how he pauses now he starts that's a great screen run and what a lot of fun he is to talk to a very engaging young man at a great point from midfield miller airs it out again intended and caught by anderson sanders got lost and anderson has the touchdown he was right with him joe and then hesitated slowed down and 50-yard touchdown we always talk about dion sanders dating people right flipper anderson bakes dion he stops to let him think that the ball is coming down right here see a little hesitation and now he accelerates past them boy that's a great job of receiving you know if you're a gunfighter every now and then you're going to get wounded [Applause] and dion got wounded on that one coming into this game flipper anderson was second in the league averaging almost 22 yards to catch that'll help the average and they'll go for one zendejas knocks it through [Applause] and the rams cut it to 24-19 and for one of the rare times dion sanders burned her score against dion they have to feel like the ultimate challenge is laid out in front of him but there's no way he'll sulk he'll just go back out and try to make another play lovell and carter are deep and we have a game at 24-19 carter from the 20. has the same flag is down and carter all the way into ram territory at the 46. now we'll check the penalty it's going to be holding against the [Applause] 49ers [Applause] holy during the run by the receivers 10 yards first of 10. red cashion wasn't going to let antonio august number 98 sneak by him there he is number 98 right in the middle of your picture going to tackle lang i don't know what he got up trying to political that's great tackle great tackle but it pushes san francisco back inside their own 25. [Music] out in the flat complete to jones minimal gain tomorrow night of course 7 30 is nfl prime monday mike turrico tom jackson phil sims they'll preview the monday night game between the giants and the oilers live reports from the dome pam oliver ron jaworski with the nfl playbook and downtown julie brown does backstage with giants linebacker carlton bailey all that more prime monday tomorrow night and we have a prime ball game right here right in the middle of five rounds ricky waters nailed out of bounds and the flag comes down that'll get 15 more what a great job down field though by the wide receivers the tight end and holy mackerel was floyd down there helping him as well william floyd his backfield mate [Music] oh it's one thing to give up a big play unnecessary roughness number 26 on the defense 15 yards first down anthony newman the free safety it's another thing to tag it on the play in itself is good mike young fakes to floyd now floyd's sitting down about four yards ricky waters is down the field 20 yards watch this right part of your screen who's out there blocking floor look at floyd look at william floyd look at brent jones and look at the yards after the catch because of the extra effort and there's 15 more [Applause] here comes the reverse to rice young threw him a block they'll still only get a couple [Applause] steve young threw one of those great quarterback i'm going for your ankles plot no no no no no no no no that was absolutely a good block that wasn't one i didn't say it wasn't a good block but he didn't go up around the shoulder pants either he got the guy on the ground lower left of your screen against jail robinson area steve young coming out throw that right shoulder through get that guy on the ground oh devastating see that as a quarterback that's devastating devastating yes sir that's what you see in the quarterback meetings that's right still only a gain of three in second and seven play action young to his second receiver and taylor was going deep he thought he was going to pull up bayley the closest man to it for the rams i think it's the only bad pass deed youngster and you know you won it was it a bad pass was just throwing the ball away i mean he had the guy right in front of him the defensive guy it was him and the other so he just turns and throws it remember if you're in the pocket you're allowed to throw the ball past the line of scrimmage and it's not intentional grounding you don't need a receiver in the area look at the numbers on steve young a couple drops and he answered any questions people might have about him last week i think he's been a brilliant quarterback ever since he's been starting for this team [Applause] [Music] [Applause] outstretched hands [Applause] the rams defense comes up big you're going to start to see the footing get a little bit tough i think the tide's starting to come in because it certainly affects what happens on the field steve young goes back in the pocket stokes comes pressure on the right side now young slips right there he slips loses his footing a little bit just can't quite hang it up enough for nate to make the play doug bryan who was hit from 28 will try this one from 41. [Applause] and he missed it brian wide right the difference still five points the rams will have the ball when we come back comes by five we have switched deion sanders to the sunday night spotlight let's check in with mark malone yeah thanks mike i heard you and joe talking about dion's effect on this defense and how he allows people to free up let's take a look at what happened in the video on the touchdown watch him he always plays his hips inside and uses the sideline because he's getting no help he runs flipper to the sideline and look down at the bottom of the screen is dion and watch the free safety at the snap of the ball he moves over the top to give everybody help chandler's got him one on one takes his shot great job by flipper anderson i'll tell you what it's not going to happen often against dion guys absolutely martin it looked like dion might have gotten his feet tangled up that's why he lost the step [Applause] miller starts from the 31. fetish no place to go he'll lose a yard go back to mark yeah mike just to round out these numbers so far for dion sanders la's thrown the ball 23 times they've only chosen to throw out dion three of those times he's defensed one they've completed two on him one of those for a touchdown mike you know mark what was so interesting about deion sanders the chemistry on the 49ers team is so good they went to some of the players the veteran players and said what is going to happen if dion comes in here is he going to upset the apple cart they said no he'd be a great guy go get him and he has been [Applause] play action by miller all day to throw pros complete flipper anderson and anderson out to the 43-yard line and you can see chris miller in the rams offense gaining confidence as this game goes along chris miller has decided to go to his big gun and that is flipper anderson dion comes up to try and jam him gets a pretty good jam flipper holds his feet but again does a nice job of keeping dion behind him and then coming back to the ball that's the end of the third quarter from the stick san francisco 24 los angeles 19. two quarterback injuries today but one so the 49ers need a win to match the cowboys for the best record the conference looked like they had it salted away yeah well you know they realize that they cannot let this game get away from because then the cowboy game is meaningless they're losing home field advantage possibility that's what they're shooting for the other thing is steve young said the reason why i've been able to put up such big numbers against the ram teams is because the games have always been four quarters of hard fought football they're in a battle now rams offensive line has done a sensational job betis boy can he run bettis down to the 37th card line here's an interesting statistic on jerome bettis we all know what kind of running back he is he had 243 carries coming into this game but he is second in running backs to lashawn johnson of green bay with yards after the catch with an average of 12. good job by the offensive line tom newberry miller does a good job scrambling around just moving enough to make the play before he gets up ahead of steam you don't want to be a 170 pound defensive back leaning into him and the 49ers are going to have to use a time-out i'm sorry the rams take the timeout 14 22 to go in the game and it was san francisco that took the time talking about the cowboys and the 49ers battling for the best record in the conference here's what they have left and you can see the cowboys might have a a little tougher road having to face the eagles and the browns [Music] of course the 49ers still have to play at the chargers and at the vikings so it's not a cakewalk for either one question is which minnesota viking team are they going to get are they going to get the one that struggled the last couple weeks are they going to get a team that looked like it was headed towards the playoffs comfortably early in the year first and ten just nothing there for the big guy on the ground game and the 49ers have obviously made up their mind they're going to stop the run first well mike i'll grant that there's nothing there but when you've got jerome bettis what looks like nothing at all winds up with a two or three yard gain you come up second and seven now if you want to run play action they've got to respect them maybe you can get a large a lot of yards but it helps your next sequence of plays i'm not saying go away from him you're right betis again slips two tackle stiff arm and got down to the 26th is the flag down this may be a face mask it's gonna be but i think it's gonna be against jerome bettis possibly for stiff army i don't think this one's gonna go against the 49ers this one may go against the rams [Applause] yo no during the run face mask number 25 on the defense five yards first down that's eric davis boy i'm surprised [Applause] betis does a great job we talked about the quickness of his feet look at these feet in the hole this guy's 245. he breaks away now watch his left hand there's a face mask they they train it off i don't believe that he is quick enough at 2 45 to make merton hanks miss [Applause] [Music] chris miller has played a smart game for the rams 49er defensive coaches realize how good dion is but they're not going to turn them loose all the time they give different coverages this time merton hanks comes over to help out that's not to say they don't trust dion but you can't keep giving a team the same steady diet of a look you've got to change it up and chick harris has to come up with something just a little bit different now second and 10 13 13 to go in the ball game howard griffith number 30 checks into the backfield for the range miller with time wide open touchdown jesse hester somebody blew a coverage and miller found it not that time eric davis when miller scrambled he had him covered and then you could see miller waving upfield davis falls down the turf like i said tide's coming in turf gets a little tougher to have you keep your footing on he goes back in the pocket he studies the defense no one's there good job by the offensive line now watch him wave go go go you'll see eric davis he falls down and slips hester winds up in the end zone miller now 14 out of 21 206 yards and leading by one they will go for two this ram offensive line which is a patchwork job has done a brilliant job they spread the defense give him any kind of a scene he will get two yards the rams by three at espn's sunday night nfl is brought to you by oldsmobile and your authorized aurora retailers fight logo athletic get real with authentic team apparel and buy energizer batteries still going long-lasting energizer batteries keep going and going [Music] it is a happy ram sideline as they have taken the lead over their arch rival the 49ers 27-24 1305 to go in the ball game carter and laville wait inside the 10. his way out to the 37. on that last touchdown mike this is a great job by miller but watch this that's eric davis as miller scrambles davis is going to head back here but he's going to lose his footing he has him in man-to-man coverage hester stops he slips once now he slips and falls down that's how hester got so open on the two-point conversion stubblefield gets blocked by newberry and plumber gets stood up by chuck villain and big jerome winds up in the end zone that was the fourth time the rams have gone for two this year the first time they have made it joe kelly grabs him around the neck and plants it you know something the 49ers right now mike have got to feel more pressure than they did when they played the dallas cowboys last week because this thing is slipping away from them from a momentum standpoint they've given they've gotten one field goal in this second half versus three td for the rams and not only is this a game they were supposed to win because they beat the rams eight straight it's a game they have to win to stay even with dallas dexter carter in the backfield goes in motion [Applause] good hole up the middle waters to the ram 46. gain of 15. i think that's a great call by mike shanahan the offensive coordinator of the 49ers you would expect with the 49ers down to come out and throw the football right they come out and they come out and establish a run game to get the offensive line involved steve wallace number 74 blocks roman pfeiffer number 58 on a big play [Applause] steve young with another great scramble goes down hard grabbing at that left leg [Music] [Applause] unfortunately he comes up without a limp you're wondering how young does under pressure he completes 72.9 of his passes in the fourth quarter pretty good yeah second and a yard floyd and the battering ram has the first down to rams 34. floyd 242 pound rookie out of florida state and we've already seen how well he blocks tonight this kid here is really a complete football player i was so impressed on ricky waters big run he he's only five yards down the field when ricky waters catches that ball 20 yards down and he's down in front of him throwing a block first down niners 10 55 to go in the game [Music] that's the second one tonight that hit jerry rice right in the hands and he couldn't hold it podlight doing exactly what he said don't let jerry rice beat me deep he's got a lot of catches but only a hundred and some odd yards that's only about 10 yards to get but no real big one in it doesn't seem like much but it is very important that if you're going to hold him to just 10 yards a catch or less you keep him contained pretty good when you feel good about a guy's only caught 100 yards worth of ball here second and 10. [Applause] young that one short hopped into taylor incomplete [Applause] anthony newman on the coverage and now third and ten for the niners remember i talked about uh in the second drive of the first quarter when the rams had to try and hold the 49ers they wound up scoring now the the situation is reversed the ram defense has got to come up with a big play here to hold the 49ers important for the 49ers they've got to get a first down because this is a little bit too far out to try a field goal big big play young is 23 out of 32 but he's missed his last four [Music] pressure on young got away again wide open mccaffrey to the two but there's going to be a penalty he crossed the line of scrimmage steve young was past the line of scrimmage when he threw the football [Applause] and takes away the big gain that would have given them first and goal that's the danger when you scramble you have to know where you are he slips coming out a little bit and that disorients him creating to become disoriented whatever [Applause] illegal forward pass full thrown from beyond the line of scrimmage number eight of the offense five yards fourth [Applause] i'm down to show you where the line of scrimmage is all right here's the line of scrimmage right there okay the 34 yard line now as young goes back good pressure a little twist up front he's scrambling there it is oh sorry that was the line of scrimmage that's where you threw the football you can't do that steve and instead of being able to try a 47-yard field goal they bring on wilms meyer and he's got to punt the ball the field goal here off a wet field would be 52 gram defense did the job they had to kenshin filling in for johnny bailey is the kick return man but remember as a rookie he had two punt returns in one game for custom [Applause] and the rams get a break as it takes the big bounce into the end zone a pot of 37 but the net only of 17. steve young now down by three chris miller will have it when we come back chris miller's had himself an unbelievable second half everything he's done is correct first half he was just 50 with 52 yards the second half 9 of 11 154 yards two touchdowns and really they've been the result of some excellent scrambling and now with the lead do you go smash mouth with jerome bettis i do the big man gets it out to the 23 good tackle by ken norton jr ken norton jr put in a position to be able to make plays and scrape he has betis defensive line ties up the ram offensive line they do a good job norton just comes around that's a yeoman's effort bringing down that big horse one on one it's amazing to watch a guy who's 243 pounds he can get outside second and six play action to better miller under a lot of pressure and throws it over the bench made excellent decisions he really has i like the call he's playing good smart football your quarterback has to be out there not doing things that hurts your offense that's exactly what chris miller has done chick harris i like that call there you fake the betis trying to get a little bit of a big play you don't abandon the game plan that's been good to you in the second half you've done it throwing you keep on doing it 9 19 to go in the game the rams have come back from seemingly being out of the ball game to take the lead miller throws short that's got to be interference tension was simply run over by dana hall holy cow he just tackled him before the ball got there i don't understand it absolutely cannot understand what determination what's the right part of your screen the ball is thrown i mean kitchen is just absolutely run over you're right mike that's incredible and the official is standing right there brings up fourth down and landetta will kick dick harder well i don't know what else you could call it bad kick by landeta shanked it gets a bounce and it goes out of bounds at the 43. time out 908 to go in the game it's a three-point lead 908 to go in the game rams by three over the 49ers san francisco has it back at its own 43 and steve young leads them out [Applause] the numbers on rice and young [Applause] they have been spectacular especially in the first half and there is todd light limping off the field here are the numbers young passing for 247 yards three touchdowns rice with his 47th 100-yard game of his career has two of the touchdowns the thing is they're going to need some more numbers they're behind first five drives he had 11 catches the last two he's been shut out wyman henderson comes in for life waters just shy of midfield that'll leave about third and three as anthony newman made the tackle light will go to the bench and be tended to they can ill afford to have him out there's henderson [Music] well new guy on the field do you find him no you don't need to because you got third down and three your priority here is the first down you don't worry about who they could put in a whole new secondary it wouldn't matter right quick post first down [Applause] that was up against wyman henderson but still i mean they're going to run the quick post they rain it twice against light they're going to run it against everybody again the footing getting a little more treacherous jerry rice on the quick post henderson giving ground he tries to close he's not even in the picture now he manages to get in there and make the tackle on jerry todd light checks back into the ball game we're told from the bench he had cramps and he goes right back out to cover jerry rice roman piper makes the tackle at the 33. and san francisco's offense looked like it has its rhythm back you boy did you hit that one absolutely perfect mike absolutely the the third quarter it looks like looked a lot like they were out of sync steve young was moving his feet a lot once he gets moving his feet a lot the throws are not as crisp now they're in and out of the huddle reception back in the huddle back out great observation mike thank you sir [Applause] bailey was with him and toby wright coming over from his safety spot to help cover a lot of people think you complete deep passes by deep throws but you win him at the line of scrimmage look at the job john taylor does at the line of scrimmage and steve young would love to have this one back 10 times he'd complete nine of them i'm sure that time he did not now third and two from here it would be a 48-yard field goal try if they don't pick up the first [Applause] [Music] down and he'll get it on the draw slipped a couple of tackles and dives to the 25 first down san francisco that's just a good call you're doing what you have to do to move the chains to get yourself in position to score nice job up front bart oates number 66. giants let him go it's interesting talking to bart oates you know of course he played with phil sims all those years he said getting steve young now as a quarterback he understands what a mobile quarterback was he said he had sims he thought that was the guy that moved from house to house in the neighborhood on first and ten young to rice lost the ball rams have it jerry rice tackled by shane conlon fumbled the ball gerald robinson recovers for the rams what a huge play big plays being made by that ram defense and the offense right part of your screen little sit down quick hook rice has got it and the ball just slides away good job by conlan pulls his arm away jerry never quite gets the ball tucked away the rams on the verge of breaking an eight-game losing streak against san francisco and if they win it you've got to say what a great job by chris miller and the offensive line [Applause] they're going to have to reset the clock because it was continuing to run i mean we're hearing candlestick so should not have start 605 thank you and anaheim i can understand why it might have been running but up here no you're behind i don't know i had to check take the address of the clock operator [Applause] and keep in mind if you have followed this series for years this may be the last time the san francisco 49ers and the los angeles rams play each other the odds of the rams being in la next year are not good the last 16 games in this division the rams have won only two the 49ers are 14-2 that's since 1992 chet knox trying to change that right now second and eight pressure on miller throws it away another great decision the screen was covered beautifully by ricky jackson we saw him come in and make the tough tackle on the pass rush now he shows you how the complete linebacker plays lets drayton go down starts in on jones senses the screen now he slides back right in front of betis so miller has nowhere to go with the football third and eighth the 49ers waving their arms to the crowd and they get the help miller with a shovel pass that will be incomplete that is a forward pass and it's incomplete intended for lange what a job by bryant young breaking up the shovel pass he just collapsed the middle what a terrific job he fires off the ball that's number 97 right part of your screen he's coming in and it just bounces off his shoulder it's because of his relentless pass rush that it managed to mess that up dexter carter back at the 35 remember landetta who's a tremendous punter shanked the last one nice punt this time and carter has to go down on the ground to hold on to the ball a 42-yard punt no return 5-14 left right here's mark malone thanks mike maybe a developing story here with dion of course he's playing with the sword dislocated finger three drives ago he got his face mask or got his hand up in the face pass of flipper anderson i want you to watch this and right there i think he hurts the fingers he starts to put the hand down at his side he's really not much of a factor on the tackle then he comes back two drives later and he starts to play the off position it looks like he's trying to guard against that finger in the final drive he used a bail out technique we got to see whether or not that's a factor as this game winds down mike mark pretty tough to play one-handed waters and floyd to the backs young under pressure now he airs one out contact downfield rice ran into lights no flag let's go back mike you wonder whether or not flipper anderson is talking on the sidelines about dion's finger because in the first half they only threw the ball at dion one time it was the hail mary at the end of the half this second half they've thrown at him four times they've completed three of those of course one for the touchdown mike mark that's a great point and uh about the only way you can throw at the guy if he's hurt well you try the other thing is i don't think you can totally go away from him you cannot eliminate that part of your offense you have to take a chance not when flipper anderson is your big weapon second and ten play action wide open and jones wheeled out of bounds across midfield there wasn't anybody within 10 yards you know they haven't thrown to him in the second half up until now early yeah one quick one early in the second half but basically it's been get the ball downfield to rice get the ball down field to taylor you low that defense a little bit of sleep now you come back to brent jones big sean gilbert being tended to on the sideline 6-4-3-15 the pro bowler and they'll miss him on the pass rush waters hasn't been much room to run tonight roman pfeiffer again with a hit vipers had a good game from that right outside linebacker let me set the stage a little bit for you as we move into this fourth quarter a little more mike right now though i believe the 49ers are in a position where they have got to go on a fourth down if it comes up if it's reasonable yardage they've got to go for it if it does come and up [Applause] demarco far putting pressure on young who throws to the sideline incomplete rice couldn't get it far as in there for sean gilbert and he was writing steve young's face [Applause] free agent rookie out of the university of washington and sean gilbert checks back in you like it when a guy you can come in cold off the bench you come in you put a little pressure on somebody feel like you've done something then comes the big horse the big bear shawn gilbert says with the double teams i haven't even been close enough to whip a quarterback lately third and six [Applause] young with a short set for rice horse powered by light at the 31. even when you know it's coming you can't stop what do you do i mean if you try and jump inside he's going to take it up outside of you i mean this is what jerry rice does to you he forces you to take away big plays and allow the small ones light does a good job he's not going to let him go outside so what jerry does is start outside come on hard inside and light continues to make the tackle good quick crisp set by young steve young just hit the 300 yard mark 28 out of 41 tonight wanting to go deep now can't find anybody and throws it away floyd the only man downfield and he was covered well by marquez pope who is on the pump fake he wanted it all they wanted to go up top they see what they did remember they threw the quick post on the left side now what happens you figure you throw the quick post you're going to get the secondary and the backs jumping up a little bit so what you do you come back on the other side you fake the same move and then you try and go up top great job by the defense of the rams sean gilbert looking a little gimpy comes out of the ball game again far checks back in that's the third 300-yard game this year for steve young draw play water pfeiffer again is in on the tackle along with barr and jimmy jones time really a factor now 320 and counting and gilbert looks like he's in some discomfort remember the significance of this game not only between these two teams in their rivalry but the dallas cowboys went to nine and two today in that race for the best record in the conference san francisco needs a win to tie them third and six 2 58 left short set quick post to rice trying to lean forward to get the first down pfeiffer well aware of where he was keith lyle was also in on the tackle the rookie you know what i like about the san francisco offense besides the fact that stock with all world players is when they find something that works they aren't going to go away from it they're not going to abandon it for the sake of thinking you're going to stop it they keep coming back this is the quick post to rice three steps off inside jerry knows where he has to get to for the first down see him looking at that line he knows he has to get to that line if he can they'll bring in the change to measure oh how close is that is the term making it by a nose of application the 49ers already in field goal range that could tie it but they're looking for more with 2 36 to go in the game rice now 15 catches 148 yards waters and the rams doing a nice job all night long against the run shane conlon in there again and robert young i'll tell you something else it's important for the san francisco team to be able to run the ball because now they're finally getting their offensive line back together this is really only the second time that these guys have played together and what's happening is they have to try and now build towards december and january and into the playoffs they let the clock run down to the two-minute warning two minutes left from the stick the rams by three over the 49ers by three two minutes left coming up after our broadcast sportscenter keith olbermann and dan patrick standing by the top stories an update on the injury to troy aikman the early prognosis two to three weeks the bills came back from the dead again in our sunday conversation with george seifert second and eight gilbert has a twisted knees out of the ball game demarco far at that right tackle spot for it steve young's fourth touchdown pass jerry rice third score they're not good together or anything young 30 out of 44 325 yards four touchdowns rice 16 catches three squares i gotta go back to that billboard change that billboard again for steve young sorry steve you're moving too fast the point after is good and the 49ers go up by four everybody looks at the end result of past plays but you win at the line of scrimmage watch the move jerry rice puts on todd light he gets up here the hard plant left see how light has to take in and respect that it opens up the inside shoulder and rice is allowed to come inside you win pass patterns coming off the line of scrimmage and getting great fire protection on this one by the offensive line the two guards and the center created the lane for steve young young celebrates another huge night passing 75 percent of it to jerry rice and the 49ers a minute 56 seconds away from getting their ninth win inside the 20 this year 17 touchdowns for them tonight just any numbers you look at for this guy but the zero int's is just as impressive as the touchdown he's not making mistakes jerry rice just this average evening 16 receptions remember he had 19 in the two previous games i told you he was going for it all tonight unreal he loves to play the rams now chris miller will have to answer the call lang and kintzen waiting the kick of bryan that's kenji he's had a couple of great runs tonight henson from the 14 out to the 35. mike this is what you live for if you're a quarterback you've got plenty of time on the clock this is what they practice you've got three timeouts plenty of time on the clock you know you need a touchdown a field goal is not going to do it for you the 16 catches for jerry rice tonight a career high this is why quarterbacks play quarterback flipper anderson goes to the top of your screen and sanders goes with him draw play wang dives to the 40. gain of about five on the other side of that mike this is why the 49ers invested so much money in the guys that they brought in jerome bettis on the sideline lange is their third down back tonight miller to the flat he's got a first down flipper anderson tackled by sanders or the confidence that miller has tonight is remarkable to watch and that is a direct result of the job your offensive line is doing can't give them enough credit they've done a terrific job win or lose those guys deserve game balls they want the screen san francisco defenses it perfectly and miller throws it away 49ers recognize that play instantly well ricky jackson does it as well mike i mean this is a guy who's only been around for 14 years and you're going to run a screen on him i'd pick out woodall the rookie you see gandy try and throw on him boy that's just a telegraph for ricky second and ten 106 to go miller misses laying in the flat you know where i go with this football i go in the middle of the football field i i would i'd work one of the two inside slot guys somewhere in the middle of the football field or one the two inside slot guys out let the outside guys clear in behind them but i would work somewhere in between the numbers that's where i would try and get the first down the rams have plenty of time because they have all three timeouts left absolutely that's why you're not limited to a portion of the field with this many timeouts third and ten nice throw by miller the catch by flipper anderson first down at the 38. chris miller showing you shades of what he was when he was healthy in atlanta when he was a rising star in the national football list big time throw big time catch and move dion's backed off a little bit he said he had trouble jamming with that left hand that was his jam here now he's pla has to play back flipper does a good job of getting his feet down as well flipper anderson five catches in the second half after he was shut out in the first miller had a man wide open and overthrew him by 10 yards the late break by isaac bruce [Music] check it jesse hester that was the one that he tried to force down the middle if you're going to play a double zone that means the corners are up the safeties have each a half of the field that middle is vulnerable if you can get by that first underneath set of covers second and ten with 48 seconds left field goal does them no good down by four the deep ball again anderson knocked away at the last moment by sanders what the play what a play by dion beautifully thrown ball perfect flippers got d on beat he's up top one to right he's got him beat look at him play the ball doesn't go through the man just goes around him this is a perfectly thrown pass miller just fires this thing ideally great defensive play by dion oh that's six oh no it's not that is so pretty and the rams have taken a timeout they have two left with 42 seconds to go in the game great timeout this to me this is a great pizza's piece of strategy by chuck knox your team has just made a big first down okay now dion has made a big play the crowd screaming north let's settle it down a little bit let's get our composure we need the two downs anyway you're gonna go on fourth so it's not like it's impending that you have to get it off this is just a great piece of strategy by coach knox chuck knox said he came back and took this job because he hasn't won a super bowl in his career he's one darn near everything else yeah he says that's the only thing that's left and he wants one built winners wherever he's gone division championships with three different teams no one else ever did it bryce and taylor all they can do now is watch went deep miller throughout there is a flag down the indication against the rams if it's declined it would bring up fourth and ten no you can't decline i think you cannot i don't think you can i think you have to back them up maybe you give them another down but i think you have to back them up 10 yards is too easy to convert holy number 72 on the offense 10 yards still third down clarence jones the left tackle up against ricky jackson he just you know he's he's not that big a guy he's only a 245 and jones is at 290 and he can just take and do things to big tackles like no linebacker i've ever seen he can bullrush the big guys better than any linebacker his size in the game today third and 20 with 37 seconds to go [Music] remember i talked about earlier with the acquisition of deion sanders you get a merton hanks martin hanks is playing safety but he's really a corner he can play the corner so you've got all those corners on the field davis sanders and hanks left part of your screen he sees the crossing pattern watch him break he goes up and makes a play on the ball and darn here takes jesse's head off everybody on the 49ers says he deserves to be in the pro bowl fourth and 20. last shot for the rams wang wouldn't have made it anyway but it would have made it a lot more interesting chris miller dejected on the ground he has played his heart out tonight made great decisions and great throws it's interesting mike the last two weeks have been big big weeks for the defense of the 49ers they've come up big in both these last two weeks particularly tonight as well miller does a nice job of being flushed now this pass is only about a five yard pass he's going to have to run 15 yards he's not going to make it anyway steve young he knows that's it with 25 seconds to go miller on the other end of that emotional scale the other thing about what the 49ers did they had this game in the bag then they slot slip away fell behind it takes a great team to come back from that to recharge that emotion they had a couple of opportunities to put it in they managed to go to the big guns the rams use another timeout to stop the clock with 23 seconds but they don't have enough all the 49ers have to do is kneel down and kill it this is so disappointing for this los angeles ram team and chris miller because they have been in so many games i mean the only game that they really got blown out and i believe was the 49ers the first one that was it everything has been a three-point loss a six-point loss i mean they've been so close and chuck knox knows [Applause] [Applause] their heads in available yeah it's disappointing that's why you do it but certainly not in shame [Applause] 19 seconds left that's the last rams timeout and steve young will have to kneel down one more time for his club to go to nine and two the rams will fall to four and seven and their chances for a wild card playoff spot fall with and i was it to steve young on friday mike interestingly enough we were talking about you know what the greatest asset that a quarterback possesses is and he said hey it's a great defense it's no physical tools there's no mental tones if you have a great defense that's the greatest asset that a quarterback can have he's had that remarkable numbers again for steve young do you think that the 49ers and the cowboys are still the class of the yes i do i think they're ultimately going to meet for it all and that'll do it the rams cannot stop the clock again the 49ers with a big lead and fell from behind a heartbreaking defeat for chuck knox but a huge win for george seifert to match the dallas cowboys at nine and two in the nfc [Music] our final score the 49ers 31 the rams 27 coming up next sportscenter keith olbermann and dan patrick we'll update you on the injury to the knee of troy aikman probably two to three weeks the buffalo bills come back and win in our sunday night conversation with 49ers coach george seifert for joe's einstein mark malone and our entire espn crew this is mike patrick thanks for watching and good night from san francisco sportscenter is next after this

Channel: Sports !

Views: 5,335

Keywords:

Id: u8_oef7jtQA

Length: 147min 44sec (8864 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 17 2021