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'I'm not done' Rice reflects on 49ers' bittersweet season
Posted: Sunday January 10, 1999 06:04 PM
ATLANTA (AP) -- Sitting on a stool in a quiet 49ers' locker room, Jerry Rice was more interested in looking ahead than dwelling on his roller-coaster season and the team's final defeat. "I'm not done," Rice said. The NFL's career leader in touchdowns, receptions and yards receiving, the 36-year-old Rice made a strong comeback from two major injuries to his left knee that sidelined him most of last season. But he struggled through the final seven weeks with a partially torn ligament in his right knee. "It has been a very difficult season," said Rice, whose standing as the team's top receiver was challenged with the development of Terrell Owens and J.J. Stokes. "But just watching the young guys grow, the fire is still burning. I'll be back next year in better shape and I will be healthy and ready to go." Owens had a team-high eight receptions for 73 yards, but it was Rice who flashed his Pro Bowl form on a 17-yard touchdown catch that got San Francisco back into the game after Atlanta led 14-0 Saturday. The Falcons held on to win the divisional playoff game 20-18, ending the 49ers' season. "I decided to play man-to-man and I did not have a game plan," Atlanta cornerback Ray Buchanan said. "He caught a good pass, but I'm not going to be mad because he may have won that battle but we won the war. "Jerry Rice still has it. I told him after the game that I don't want anyone telling him that he doesn't have it because he and Steve Young can still click." But the 49ers' passing game couldn't click enough to overcome the loss of running back Garrison Hearst, who went down on the first play with a broken bone in his lower left leg. Knowing the 49ers had to throw, the Falcons put up a strong defense against the pass, intercepting Young three times to fend off San Francisco's comeback bid. "That was a hard pill to swallow," Rice said of Hearst's loss. "We didn't feel like we had to do anything desperate but we knew the receivers had to pick up the slack. There's a couple plays we wish we had back." Rice said the 49ers accomplished a great deal this season even though they didn't realize their goal of going to the Super Bowl. "It was a crazy season, up and down," said Rice, recalling the high from last week's last-second wild card win over Green Bay on Owens' dramatic touchdown catch and the season-long front-office tumult marked by the exodus of Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark to the expansion Cleveland Browns. And despite his success, coach Steve Mariucci had to weather rumors about his job security. That speculation died after the 49ers' beat the Packers, and Mariucci now is on the verge of signing a contract extension. "Somehow, this team kept it together with everything that was going on around it," Rice said. "We have a lot to hold our heads up about and just get ready for next season." San Francisco safety Tim McDonald said there's nothing to do now for the 49ers but move on. "There's a big swing in emotions for us between last week and this," he said. "It has been a trying season. Of course, we'd like to end it a little better than we did."
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