Bono Knows How to Handle the Rams : 49ers: Third-string quarterback has the biggest game of his career, in the first half alone.
If Stan Humphries was watching “Monday Night Football” last night, you can bet he’s hoping Mark Rypien has a little household accident this week. Nothing serious, of course, something just bad enough to keep the Redskins’ starting quarterback from playing Sunday against the Rams.
After all, Humphries, Washington’s backup quarterback, would like his shot at these Rams, the favorite foe of the NFL understudy.
Monday night, Steve Bono--actually a No. 3 quarterback--got his turn and looked a lot like San Francisco’s top gun. In fact, the Rams might have been tempted to pull off his helmet and make sure it wasn’t Joe Montana inside that uniform, but Montana was standing on the 49er sideline signaling in the plays.
If you have paid attention to the Rams this season--and no one would blame you if you didn’t--you would hardly be surprised to hear that Bono completed 18 of 33 passes for 306 yards and a touchdown. You wouldn’t be surprised to hear that he had surpassed his career best for passing yardage early in the second quarter. And you wouldn’t even be surprised that he threw six passes of more than 20 yards in the first half, when he had thrown only two of 20 or more yards so far this season.
It was just another case of a backup who burned the Rams. Here’s a look at the other No. 2s who have had a big time against the Rams this season:
--San Francisco’s Steve Young, the 49ers’ backup until Montana’s elbow problems kept him from playing, completed 21 of 31 passes for 288 yards and two touchdowns the first time the teams met.
--Green Bay’s Blair Kiel, who came in after Don Majkowski separated his shoulder, connected on 11 of 15 attempts for 149 yards and two touchdowns in less than a half of action.
--Steve Walsh, replacing New Orleans starter Bobby Hebert, threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns.
--And last week, Detroit backup Erik Kramer was 15 of 25 for 185 yards and three touchdowns.
Monday night, it was Bono. The way the Rams are playing defense these days, it could have been Cher.
“We came into the game with the idea that we’d take our shots and try to go deep on them,” Bono said. “They blitz a lot, and that leaves them in a lot of man-to-man coverage and guys like John (Taylor) and Jerry (Rice) are pretty tough to cover man to man.”
The Rams proved that again Monday night. Taylor, the guy who has made a habit of turning one-yard catches into 90-yard touchdowns in Anaheim Stadium, snatched a similar hitch pass in the first quarter but couldn’t quite make it to the end zone. He did manage to go 78 yards, though.
And you have to wonder what Bono’s numbers would have been if the 49ers hadn’t piled up that 30-3 first-half lead and spent the rest of the evening working on their running game and the clock.
Bono had 274 yards passing in the first half.
Young, working as a postgame interviewer for a Bay Area television station, called Bono’s first-half performance “spectacular.” Bono was a little more subdued, however.
“I think I was OK,” he said. “I did some things right and some things wrong. I’ll have to go back and look at the films to make a better judgement, but I’m sure there are a number of areas that can be improved on. I probably should have called a few more audibles.”
The Rams used a number of different formations and blitzes in an attempt to rattle Bono, but more often than not those attempts resulted in a long 49er pass play.
“I was little confused at times, but I managed to get the ball to the right guys,” Bono said.
Bono, who almost became a stockbroker in 1989 after he was cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers, could be replaced by Young next week when the 49ers play New Orleans.
“I’ve always been confident I could get the job done, it’s just a matter of getting a chance,” said Bono, a former UCLA quarterback. “I’ve been around long enough to know what I’m doing. But if Steve feels he’s healthy enough to go next week, then he’ll be the guy and I’ll go back to being the backup.”