49ers’ Rice Blessed to Receive : Even Hurt and Struggling, He’s Still Big Threat

It was just another dull episode of Monday Night Football earlier this week. The San Francisco 49ers were shuffling past Washington, about to all but end the Redskins’ playoff hopes.

Long after the suspense had vanished, with 4 minutes remaining, the 49ers faced third and 7 on their 20. Suddenly, viewers who hadn’t switched to “Alf” were rewarded for their patience with a little instant entertainment.

Joe Montana dropped back and threw in the direction of receiver Jerry Rice. The pass was underthrown. Redskin defender Darrell Green appeared to be in position to make an interception, but the ball instead bounced neatly off his hands and into Rice’s.

Without so much as a thank you, Rice accepted the package and took it quickly to the end zone. Just another routine 80-yard trip.

That takes us to Pine Bluff, Ark., where Archie Cooley hadn’t switched channels. He was still watching the game in earnest.

Cooley is the football coach at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and he has special interest in all games involving the 49ers. Namely, Jerry Rice, the NFL’s Most Valuable Player last season who will play in San Diego Sunday when the 49ers play the Chargers.

Cooley used to coach at Mississippi Valley State, and Rice was around for 4 seasons, making Cooley’s job a little easier with plays such as the one Monday night. Rice amassed 4,693 receiving yards in college and caught more than 100 passes in each of his last two seasons.

Somewhere amid all those catches, Rice helped Mississippi Valley State defeat Jackson State, a team it hadn’t beaten in 30 years. He broke that game open when he caught a pass on his shoelaces and galloped 65 yards for a touchdown.

So Cooley wasn’t surprised Monday.

“Jerry’s always in the right place at the right time,” Cooley said. “In college it was the same thing.”

Let’s not get the wrong impression. Right place, right time sounds almost the same as lucky. Luck has very little to do with Rice’s success. Hard work has a lot to do with it.

Growing up in Starkville, Miss., Rice would spend summers working with his father, Joe, a bricklayer. The task was simple: Joe threw bricks. Jerry caught them.

It was a good job. Paid $300 a week, which wasn’t bad for a kid growing up in Mississippi. And all the while, Rice was able to practice his receiving skills.

A brick. A football. There wasn’t much difference. Rice just had to make the catch. And the long hours helped develop a work ethic that has served him well ever since.

“The hard work got me ready for anything,” Rice said. “I felt there was nothing I couldn’t do.”

After working an 8-hour shift in 100-degree heat, Rice was appropriately tired.

“But not that tired. because I had practice after I went home,” he said. “I was never too tired to practice.”

Cooley won’t argue with that. To him, Rice was a model athlete.

“He didn’t get into any trouble,” Cooley said. “He never missed practice. He never had to call to say come get him out of jail. Nothin’ but women. He loved women.”

He also loved practice. He was the first player on the field and the last to leave. He took so much pride in his ability to catch a football that he sometimes got down on himself for making a simple mistake.

During one practice, Rice dropped a pass and was so disgusted he began walking off the field toward the locker room. Cooley yelled at him.

“Where the hell you going? Anybody can drop a damn pass. Bring your (tail) on back here.”

Rice turned, approached his coach and offered an explanation.

“Coach, I was supposed to have caught that.”

“That man,” Cooley said, “felt that he wasn’t supposed to drop a ball. And he didn’t drop very many.”

He still doesn’t.

Last season, Rice nearly had the statistics of two men. Two good men. Many of his 65 catches, which totaled 1,078 yards, came despite double coverage. His 22 receiving touchdowns for the season easily broke the record of 18 set by Mark Clayton of Miami.

But maybe Rice was too good for his and the 49ers’ own good. San Francisco appeared to be on its way to another championship after entering the playoffs with a 13-2 record, following routs of Chicago, Atlanta and the Rams in the final games of the regular season.

Then, in a playoff game on Jan. 9 at Candlestick Park, the 49ers met the Minnesota Vikings and Anthony Carter, who danced with little interruption in the San Francisco secondary for 10 catches totaling 227 yards. Rice was virtually shut down: 3 catches for 28 yards. The 49ers lost.

Things haven’t been the same since. Coach Bill Walsh always has sworn by the small-change passing game. A nickel throw here, a dime toss there. Perhaps because of Rice’s success in ‘87, the 49ers changed a bit this season and tried to win with big plays.

The result? A record of 7-5 and less productivity from Rice, who has caught just 6 touchdown passes. What’s more, Rice suffered an ankle sprain early in the season that still nags him and limits his ability to run precise routes.

The cure for the wounds might have come Monday night. The 49ers returned to their traditional offense. And, coincidentally, Rice made a big play.

“It was a very big play for me,” Rice said. “I’m looking forward to more plays like that. It’s been a long time since I got into the end zone.”

After last season, Rice’s teammates had grown accustomed to seeing him in the end zone. Montana always has had great faith in him. He knows he can count on Rice to make him look good when his passes aren’t perfect.

“You always think that you’ve overthrown him,” Montana said. “But he always seems to have the gear left to go get the ball. I think that’s his biggest asset.”

Still, the ankle injury is a continuing problem. Rice got kicked early in the Redskin game, and it started bothering him again. But the simple truth is, he is too big a part of the 49ers’ offense to be resting on the bench.

“Unfortunately, we play him with a slightly sprained ankle,” Walsh said. “A lot of mobility he’s had in the past he hasn’t shown this year.”

At 26, after four NFL seasons, Rice knows how to cope and how to succeed.

“You have to be a leader,” he said. “If you’re hurt, you’ve got to be able to go. And another thing is really the consistency of catching the football every down. When I first came here, I wanted to come in and be a big-play receiver. But the catch is the most important thing.”

Rice is different than other top receivers, such as Carter and Steve Largent of Seattle. Largent is more of a possession receiver who gets first downs. Carter, like Rice, makes the big plays, but usually on deep fly and post patterns. Rice gets a lot of his yardage after catching a pass.

“He’s just your all-around football player,” Walsh said. “He can run and run and run. He’s got outstanding hands. He’s very nimble and quick on his feet. He’s certainly one of the best blockers in the league.”

Generally, he is a fairly complete package. But Rice says his abilities are the result of his effort. And certainly, he seems to have always taken football very seriously.

At Mississippi Valley State, Rice and the other players used to wash the equipment every night after practice.

“And it would be stone clean,” Cooley said. “They took pride in everything.”

For Rice, it has been just a matter of hard work. He doesn’t mind it, because it produces good results.

“I’ve always been like that,” he said. “Football is hard work. You have to work at it every day. That’s the only way you’re going to be the best.”