Rice, Young Dominate in 49er Victory

None of the San Francisco 49ers complained about not getting the ball enough Sunday.

Steve Young threw four touchdown passes to Jerry Rice, and the 49ers scored on seven of their first eight possessions for a 45-21 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Rice had eight catches for 172 yards, and reached the end zone on plays covering 12, 51, nine and 26 yards as the 49ers took advantage of man-to-man pass coverage to amass 448 yards in total offense.

Rice, who complained earlier this season that he wasn’t as big a part of the 49ers’ offense as he should be, seemed satisfied Sunday.

“When you are a competitor, you’re going to want the football,” Rice said. “But I came to the conclusion, I’m not going to try to put any more pressure on Steve Young or (offensive coordinator) Mike Shanahan. I felt it was taking away from our ballclub.

There were plenty of them Sunday for Rice as well as Ricky Watters and John Taylor. Young completed four passes to Taylor, and Watters had five receptions.

“The thing I like about what’s happening to our offense is everyone is going to be part of it,” Young said. “One week it’s going to be one guy. The next week it’s going to be another. And the week it’s not you, everybody says ‘that’s fine’ because we’re rolling.”

Tampa Bay, which scored twice within a 14-second span of the second quarter to briefly stay in the game, didn’t force a San Francisco punt until two minutes into the final quarter.

The victory was the third straight for the 49ers (6-3), who stopped a streak of three consecutive losses coming off a bye week. The Buccaneers (2-7) moved closer to an 11th consecutive season with double-digit losses. The 49ers were eight for nine on third-down opportunities, and scored on five consecutive possessions in the first half.