NFL Recap (Atlanta-San Francisco)
Posted: Sun September 27, 1998 at 9:36 p.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO 31, ATLANTA 20
SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- So much for that challenge.
Steve Young, Jerry Rice and Garrison Hearst continued
to lead a ruthlessly efficient offense as the San Francisco 49ers scored
on their first five possessions and rolled to a 31-20 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in a
battle of NFC West unbeatens.
Young completed 28-of-40 passes for 387 yards and three touchdowns,
two to Rice, for San Francisco (3-0), which had 538 yards of total offense,
topping 500 for the third straight week. Young has thrown for 1,053 yards
and nine touchdowns in his first three games as the 49ers have totaled a
franchise-record 112 points through three games.
"Two words that I would love to carry with me this season, patience is
one and aggressiveness is the other," said Young. "They don't really go
together, but if you're really on top of your game, you can take both words
and take it to the nth degree."
Rice finished with eight receptions for 162 yards and scored his 26th
and 27th touchdowns against the Atlanta Falcons. The latter score set an
NFL record for most touchdowns against a team with 27, bettering the mark
of 26, established by Marcus Allen against the San Diego Chargers. It
also was Rice's 62nd 100-yard receiving game, but first since Week 15 of
the 1996 season.
"We made some mistakes and that's something we can't do," said Rice.
"But it's something to build off. It's just one of those days, still it
leaves a little bad taste in your mouth when you have two or three drops.
But under the conditions, I think we did well."
Hearst had only 57 yards rushing but caught four passes for 105 yards.
Young contributed 50 yards rushing and Marc Edwards added 41 and
a touchdown.
The 49ers have won five straight games against Atlanta, outscoring
them, 173-82 in that span. San Francisco also has won seven straight home
games against the Falcons and leads the all-time series, 40-22-1.
Atlanta (2-1) was given a hard slap of reality after opening the
season with victories over Carolina and Philadelphia by a combined 10
points. Chris Chandler
completed 16-of-37 passes for 254 yards, but also was intercepted three
times as the Falcons committed four turnovers.
"Coming into the game this was going to be a measuring stick for us to
see exactly where we are," said Falcons coach Dan Reeves. "As you can see,
we're not there yet. We thought we'd have to play an error-free game and
we didn't do it."
Terance Mathis
caught both TD passes and had seven receptions for 130 yards for the
Falcons, who were denied their first 3-0 start since going 4-0 in 1986.
The 49ers won the toss and needed just two plays to score. After Young
and Rice combined on a 12-yard completion, the two worked a 66-yard
catch-and-run as San Francisco led after 43 seconds.
Atlanta was forced to punt after three plays, but 49ers rookie punt
returner R.W.
McQuarters fumbled and gave the Falcons life at the Atlanta 46. But
the Falcons again failed to gain a first down and punted.
This time, San Francisco opted to pound the Falcons, marching 80 yards
in 11 plays and taking over five minutes. Hearst had a 17-yard run to the
San Francisco 48, and Young and Rice hooked up on a 14-yard completion that
gained an additional 15 yards after a roughing penalty on cornerback Michael Booker. Chuck Levy and Edwards
capped the drive with seven-yard runs as Edwards' push up the middle to
make it 14-0.
The Falcons caught a break on their next drive as Chandler and Mathis
combined for a 49-yard scoring play. Defensive back Merton Hanks deflected the
ball at the San Francisco 31 before Mathis caught it and raced to the end
zone. Atlanta recovered an onsides kick, but the drive ended when Chandler
was intercepted by Zach Bronson at the San Francisco 7.
Edwards got the 49ers out of danger with a 32-yard run to midfield,
and an 18-yard leg bootleg by Young on 4th-and-1 moved the ball to the
Atlanta 23. Rice followed with a 15-yard reception and two plays later,
Young found J.J. Stokes
for a three-yard TD toss to make it 21-7with 12:38 left in the first half.
McQuarters gave the 49ers excellent field position with a 37-yard punt
return to the Atlanta 43, and the 49ers needed five plays before Wade
Richey booted a 31-yard field goal to make it 24-7 at the 8:46 mark. San
Francisco's final scoring drive was a nine-play, 76-yard effort that took
80 seconds, capped by Young's 26-yard scoring strike to Rice with 1:26
left.
"I thought we put more pressure on the quarterback today with our
front four," said 49ers coach Steve Mariucci. "A nice job of pressuring
and we mixed up some blitzes real nice."
"There are no moral victories," said Falcons defensive back Eugene Robinson. "We
flat-out got beat. One encouraging thing is that guys were angry, came out
and played in the second half. We just got to do it for the entire game
with a sense of urgency. We were thoroughly embarrassed."
Atlanta made the final score respectable in the fourth quarter as Jamal Anderson had a
four-yard scoring run with 13:11 to go, and Chandler hit a wide-open Mathis
with a 31-yard scoring pass with 7:23 remaining.
Anderson finished with 123 yards rushing for his third career 100-yard
game.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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