Montana and Rice Keep 49ers Perfect : NFC: They team up for 147 passing yards in 24-6 victory over the Cowboys. San Francisco is 9-0.

Joe Montana completed 12 passes to Jerry Rice for 147 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score Sunday night, keeping alive the San Francisco 49ers’ hopes for a perfect season with a 24-6 victory over the Cowboys.

“We had it going pretty good tonight,” Montana said. “Jerry is amazing the way he can get open. He has the ability to find the holes and improvise. He’s the kind of player who wants the ball.”

Rice and Montana led the 49ers to their ninth consecutive victory this season, keeping pace with the New York Giants as the only unbeaten teams in the NFL.

“There is great chemistry between us,” Montana said of Rice, “and he always seems to make the big play.”

Montana completed 27 of 37 passes for 290 yards, capping his performance by scoring on a four-yard run with 3:12 to play to put away the punchless Cowboys.

“Joe is something,” Rice said. “Give us 20 or 30 seconds and we believe we can put points on the board.”

Dallas Coach Jimmy Johnson was so impressed that he dashed to midfield to shake Montana’s hand after the game.

“He’s a great player,” Johnson said. “At this stage, we’ve got to have the breaks to have a chance to beat a team like the 49ers. They don’t make mistakes and we do.”

Dallas (3-7) lost its sixth straight to the 49ers.

Cowboy linebacker Jack Del Rio, a former USC star, said of Montana: “He is everything he has been the last few years and more. He’s at his best on third down. That’s when he wins the game. That’s when he kills you.”

San Francisco won its 17th consecutive game, including playoffs, and extended its NFL regular-season record of 15 consecutive road victories.

Montana didn’t play in last year’s 31-14 victory and hadn’t made an appearance in the Dallas area since he guided Notre Dame to a 35-34 victory over Houston in the 1979 Cotton Bowl.

The 49ers spotted Dallas a 3-0 first-quarter lead on Ken Willis’ 23-yard field goal, the sixth time San Francisco has trailed this season.

But the combination of a quick referee’s whistle and Rice’s acrobatic receiving put San Francisco ahead 17-6 by intermission.

Rice fumbled at the end of a 37-yard pass from Montana, but referee Gene Barth said a whistle had stopped the play at the Dallas five.

A face-mask penalty on the play by defensive back Issiac Holt gave the 49ers the ball at the Dallas two. It took San Francisco four plays to score, with Tom Rathman plunging across from just inches out.

“It was a strange call,” Johnson said. “The replay official decided to call the pass complete. It cost us the ball.”