From: marshall@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com (Bob Marshall)
Subject: 49ers/Rams
Reply-To: marshall@nebula.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com
Organization: LMSC, Sunnyvale, California
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 92 00:05:18 GMT

An uninspired 49ers team ran into a motivated Rams team at Candlestick Park,
and the 49ers were somewhat lucky to come away with a last-second 27-24 win.
Mike Cofer kicked a 21-yard field goal with one second left for the win.

Jim Everett played a great game, hitting his first 12 passes of the game
and ending up going 20-24 for 232 yards. The 49ers were simply unable to
stop him. They also had a lot of trouble stopping Cleveland Gary, who
ripped off several long runs.

After stopping the Rams a yard short of a first down and forcing a field
goal to tie the game at 10-10, on the 49ers ensuing possession Steve Young
threw a terrible pass that was intercepted by Robert Bailey and returned
for a touchdown. So, at that point the Rams led 17-10 with about twelve
minutes to go, and it looked pretty grim for the 49ers, especially after
they were forced to punt on their next possession. But they got a break
when Jim Price dropped an easy pass and the 49ers intercepted it on the
deflection. They quickly drove 49 yards for the tying score, with Young
scrambling eight yards for the TD. On the Rams next drive, the 49ers
forced another turnover as the Rams were driving, with David Whitmore
punching the ball out of Price's hands after a long catch and run.

So, with the score 17-17 Steve Young made the play of the game, scrambling
40 yards (approximately) for a TD. The play was very reminiscient of the
one he made against the Vikings about four years ago. He was headed
towards the sideline after picking up a first down, but instead of going
out of bounds he cut back inside, made two or three more players miss
him, and ended up crossing the goal line with a player hanging on to him.

You would think that would fire the 49ers defense up and allow them to
stuff the Rams, but no. Everett brought the Rams right back down the
field for the tying score, 24-24.

Then on 3rd and 5 for the 49ers with about 50 seconds left, Young hit
Brent Jones over the middle with a beautiful pass for 32 yards. Later
on the drive he hit Jerry Rice on the five, with Rice making an
unbelievable one-handed catch. On third down the 49ers went ahead and
kicked the field goal for the win.

Mike Cofer has now made five in a row, and is 8 for 12 on the season.
Not too bad, actually. If I'm not mistaken he now leads NFC kickers
in scoring. Klaus Wilmsmeyer also had a great day. His first punt was
downed on the three, his second went 39 yards, his third was downed
on the six (after he kicked it out on the one but had it nullified by
a penalty), and his last was 59 yards.

Ricky Watters had another decent game, picking up about 85 yards on
thr ground. Dana Hall also appeared to have a pretty good game.
Still, the 49ers' secondary is not making much progress in shoring
up their weak spots. Also, the defensive line did not have a good
game. I only remember one sack (by Holt), and Everett seemed to always
have plenty of time to throw.

All in all a pretty unimaginative game plan on the 49ers part. Until
the fourth quarter the 49er played it too close to the vest and they
almost ended up paying for it. Credit the Rams, though, for hanging
in there and nearly pulling it out.

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Bob Marshall                     \\     "It ain't age
Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.     \\     That makes me look this way
Sunnyvale, CA                      \\    It ain't the years, boys,
marshall@force.ssd.lmsc.lockheed.com\\   It's the miles"
"I tell the truth 'cept when I lie"  \\     - Chris LeDoux
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