RAMS-49ERS NOTEBOOK / MIKE REILLEY : Sanders Expected to Be Ready on Sunday
San Francisco signed All-Pro cornerback Deion Sanders to a one-year, $1.1-million contract Thursday, and what better way to make his season debut than against the Rams this Sunday?
At the news conference to announce his signing, Sanders said he hoped to play in Sunday’s game, but added, “We’re going to leave that up to the coach here,” as he patted George Seifert on the back.
“We had this happen to us last year,” Ram Coach Chuck Knox said. “Deion came back (after baseball season) and played his first game against us in Atlanta.”
Sanders returned to the Atlanta Falcons a day after Philadelphia eliminated the Atlanta Braves in the National League playoffs.
His presence inspired the Falcons, 0-5 at the time, to a 30-24 victory in the Georgia Dome. The Falcons were 6-5, including victories over Dallas and San Francisco, with Sanders in the lineup last season.
But will Sanders be ready to play Sunday? Ram quarterback Chris Miller, his former Atlanta teammate, thinks so.
“If Deion signed on Sunday morning, he would be out there by 1 p.m. that day,” Miller said. “You don’t have to do a lot of coaching with him. All you have to do is tell him, ‘Deion, you have Flipper Anderson. Go out and have fun.’ ”
Sanders becomes the sixth free-agent defender to sign with the 49ers since last season--linebackers Ken Norton and Gary Plummer and Rickey Jackson, defensive end Richard Dent and defensive back Toi Cook.
Sanders had been seeking a long-term deal that would pay him $4 million a year, but signed for much less with the 49ers because of their Super Bowl potential.
In order to sign him, the 49ers freed $1.3 million under the league’s new $34.6 million salary cap by restructuring the contracts of Plummer, Norton and safety Tim McDonald.
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Sanders is considered the top coverage man in the league, but he also gives the 49ers a deadly return man to go along with Dexter Carter, who ranks third in NFC in punt returns (15.5) and fourth in kickoff returns (26.7).
Ram assistant Wayne Sevier, who has coached special teams in the NFL for 20 years, including two Super Bowl teams in Washington, described Sanders kick-return ability as “scary.”
“He’s absolutely the last guy I would want to kick to,” Sevier said. “He’s the best, the scariest return man. The only possible exception--make that an also--might be Darrell Green, and he was on my side (in Washington).”
Sevier’s worst fear is that Sanders will do to the Rams on Sunday what he did to his Washington special teams in the second week of the 1992 season.
Washington rookie Desmond Howard had just taken a lateral from Brian Mitchell on a punt return and raced 55 yards for his first NFL touchdown. Sanders took the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, high-stepping the last several yards to the end zone.
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Draft gaffe? The Rams handed rookie defensive tackle Bryant Young to San Francisco on draft day, and Seifert couldn’t be happier about it.
The 49ers took Young with the eighth overall pick they acquired in a draft-day trade with the Rams, who used the 49ers’ 16th overall pick on offensive tackle Wayne Gandy, who’s now riding the bench.
Young has started the first two games of the season, getting one sack, and he is among the team’s leading tacklers with seven.
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The 49ers are coming off two emotional games--Rice setting the NFL career touchdown record in a Monday night victory over the Raiders, then losing to former 49er quarterback Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs, 24-17, last Sunday.
Will they get up for the Rams, whom they have beaten seven consecutive times?
“We can’t be mesmerized by the first two games,” Seifert said. “All games are important, but the important one is the one coming up against a team in your own division, and a rivalry that has been more dramatic than with the Raiders or Kansas City and Joe Montana.”
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Montana vs. Steve Young: Take a walk through Candlestick Park’s parking lot on game day and you’ll still see hundreds of fans still wearing jersey No. 16--Montana’s number.
Some fans just can’t forgive the 49ers for trading Montana to the Kansas City Chiefs in April 1993. Young, his replacement, has done his best to make them forget, winning the league MVP award two years ago and leading the 49ers to the NFC Championship game for two consecutive seasons.
Young has yet to lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl, let alone win one, and Montana boosters constantly remind him of it.
“There’s a statute of limitations on that stuff that ran out a while ago,” Young said. “More often than not, people are moving on and recognizing that it has been a number of years.
“There are some people who just aren’t going to accept your performance. But in general, people have been very positive. When I go out there, the crowd’s 100% for me.”
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Injuries to the offensive line made it rough on Young last Sunday. He fumbled, was intercepted twice and was sacked four times for 17 yards.
The 49ers are expected to be without 60% of their offensive line: Guard Ralph Tamm (arch), tackle Harris Barton (torn triceps muscle) and center Jesse Sapolu (hamstring) are listed as out. But Young said Sapolu told him he would be ready to play by Sunday.