| | ATLANTA -- Despite all the talk of age, health and salary
cap issues, Jerry Rice and Steve Young want to help the San
Francisco 49ers return to championship form.
|  | | Is this goodbye for Jerry Rice? Or "see you later?" |
Neither wants to walk away with the once-proud franchise coming
off a 4-12 season -- its worst record in 20 years.
"That's what I'm hoping on, but I've always looked on this as a
business," said Rice, who caught a team-high six passes for 143
yards in San Francisco's 34-29 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on
Monday night.
"I think when you look at it this way, you know anything can
happen. (Coach) Steve Mariucci -- we have talked about the
situation, and he told me face to face he wanted me back."
Young, a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player who suffered a
season-ending concussion Sept. 27, talked like a 14-year veteran
who believes the 49ers can win big next season. With a
franchise-best 90-33 career record as the 49ers' starting
quarterback, Young is accustomed to winning.
The 49ers are missing the playoffs for only the second time
since he joined the team in 1987.
"I think we've got to begin a process of trying to figure out
how to get that passion back," said Young, who played four seasons
behind Joe Montana before taking over as starter in 1991. "The
self-talk we need so much -- through all the years, the down years
and the up years, we talked about going for a championship.
"I think from top to bottom we have to speak that way. We have
to have that kind of passion. We lost that this year, and we need
it back."
The futures of Rice, 37, and Young, 38, will be foremost on the
49ers' front office agenda. Rice, the most prolific receiver in NFL
history and owner of 10 Super Bowl records, counts $5.49 million
against San Francisco's 2000 salary cap limit.
Young, whose career quarterback ratings are an NFL best, will
count $8.1 million against the cap. Though Young is signed through
2004 and Rice through 2003, the front office is projecting the
49ers to be $20 million over its allotted $62.2 cap for next
season.
But Mariucci, the 49ers' coach, sidestepped any talk of
releasing either player -- speaking instead about more emotional
matters. Asked his gut feeling on Rice, Mariucci indicated the
receiver will be back in 2000.
Regarding Young, Mariucci was more hesitant -- citing the
quarterback's three concussions in the last 35 months as the
determining factor.
"He wants to play," Mariucci said. "He tells me that every
day, on the hour. He does want to play and he does want to be
cleared first.
"That's a little bit different issue from Jerry because Jerry's
healthy. Jerry's very healthy. I think Steve feels healthy right
now, but he can't be really sure."
Regarding any timetables set by the players or the organization
for reaching a resolution, Mariucci was the only one to offer any
insight.
"You'd like to have all those decisions made by March 1, but
that's wishful thinking," Mariucci said. "That's not going to
happen. We're going to jump into these things immediately, but they
take time."
| |
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