NFL Recap (Indianapolis-San Francisco)
Posted: Sun October 18, 1998 at 10:08 p.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO 34, INDIANAPOLIS 31
SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Steve Young's MVP season
continues, and so does Jerry
Rice's streak.
Young set an NFL record with his sixth straight 300-yard passing day,
throwing for two touchdowns and running for two more as the San Francisco 49ers rallied
from a 21-point deficit and defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 34-31.
Wade Richey's 24-yard field goal with five seconds left lifted the
49ers (5-1) to their 10th straight home win against an AFC team. San
Francisco remains tied with Atlanta for first place in the NFC West with a
win over the Falcons last month.
"I usually don't like to single any one player out, but Steve was just
terrific today," said Niners coach Steve Mariucci. "The effort and
performance by Steve was outstanding. We had 50 snaps before halftime and
he was tired, but we overcame some problems and got out of there with a
win."
Young, who celebrated his 37th birthday last week, completed 33-of-51
passes for 331 yards. He scored on a 23-yard run in which he bulled past
two defenders inside the 5 and connected with Rice on a game-tying
two-point conversion with 5:52 left.
"Once you break through the line and have some running room and once
you get a head of steam against DBs, then you can get hit, but you can
slide off the guy and not get killed," said Young of the 23-yard touchdown
run.
Young then directed a seven-play, 50-yard drive in just 63 seconds
with the help of a 27-yard interference penalty on Colts cornerback Tyrone Poole to set up the
winning field goal. J.J.
Stokes, who had a career-high nine catches for 110 yards, used his 6-4
size to post the 5-foot-8 Poole down the left side. Poole could only try to
climb Stokes' back to knock the ball away and was called for interference.
In six games, Young has thrown for 2,022 yards. Last week, Young tied
former 49er teammate Joe Montana with his fifth consecutive 300-yard
passing game.
Rice caught a 10-yard pass in the first quarter to tie Art Monk's
all-time record of 183 straight games with a reception. Monk had at least
one catch in every game from 1983-95 with Washington, the New York Jets and
Philadelphia. Rice's streak stretches from the last three weeks of 1985.
Rice holds NFL career marks for touchdowns (169), receptions (1,088)
and receiving yards (16,944).
Rookie Peyton
Manning threw three touchdown passes to Marvin Harrison and Marshall Faulk scored on a
65-yard run for the Colts (1-6), who jumped to a 21-0 lead and still held a
31-17 advantage at the start of the fourth quarter. Faulk finished with 103
yards on 17 carries and Harrison had six catches for 98 yards.
"We stuck with our game plan, but we weren't trying to pick on anyone
in particular," said Harrison. "Peyton was able to make a number of good
plays today. It's disappointing, but there's nothing we can do about it
now. We just have to move on."
Manning, who had been intercepted 14 times in his first five NFL
games, played his most efficient game with 18 completions in 30 attempts
for 231 yards and zero interceptions.
"This probably was his best game," said Colts coach Jim Mora. "He
didn't turn the ball over today. He protected the ball well. Usually,
when you win the giveaway/takeaway battle, you win, but I guess against a
team like the 49ers, you can do that and still come up on the short end of
the stick."
Faulk scored on a 65-yard run and Manning hit Harrison with a
four-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.
The Colts increased their lead to 21-0 when Manning and Harrison
connected on a six-yard scoring play four minutes into the second quarter.
The 49ers then scored 17 points in the final 8:17 of the half. Richey
kicked a 43-yard field goal and Young hit Stokes and Terrell Owens with scoring
passes of three and 10 yards, respectively. The touchdowns by Stokes and
Owens were preceded by pass-interference penalties against defensive backs
Jeff Burris and Monty
Montgomery.
"It was a horrible, horrible job," said Mora of the officiating. "One
of the officials told me right after, 'if anything it was an offensive
penalty', and that's what he told me (referring to the holding on Burris).
I don't think we lost the game, because of the officiating, but I guarantee
that it contributed."
The Colts stemmed San Francisco's momentum when Harrison caught a
short pass in front of cornerback Antonio Langham, who
slipped while attempting to tackle Harrison, and turned it into a 61-yard
touchdown 4:19 into the third quarter. Langham suffered a sprained ankle on
the play and did not return.
"We thought we'd go after both of the corners," said Manning. "A lot
of teams have attacked those guys."
Indianapolis increased its lead to 31-17 when Mike Vanderjagt kicked a
38-yard field goal with 6:28 left in the third quarter.
Young then took over in the fourth quarter. He engineered a 10-play,
91-yard drive, completing 6-of-9 passes for 83 yards and capped it with a
one-yard run. However, the Niners failed on the two-point conversion
attempt and trailed, 31-23 with 9:58 left.
On the game-tying drive, Young hit Stokes with a 21-yard pass and
connected with running back Chuck Levy on a 13-yard
play to the Indianapolis 23. Two plays later, Young ran up the middle and
scored on a 23-yard run to pull the Niners within 31-29 with 5:52 left.
Young then rifled a pass to Rice on the left side for the two-point
conversion.
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
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