PRO FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : Tops on Offense and Defense? It’s Sanders

It was a good year to be named Sanders.

Deion Sanders didn’t need a full season to be selected the 1994 Associated Press defensive player of the year. And Barry Sanders was named offensive player of the year, even though he fell short of becoming the third player to rush for 2,000 yards.

Deion Sanders waited until the baseball season was canceled in September before signing with the San Francisco 49ers as a free agent. It didn’t matter to a panel of 98 sportswriters and broadcasters that the cornerback missed three games. He collected 39 votes to easily outdistance a pair of Pittsburgh Steelers, cornerback Rod Woodson, last year’s winner, and linebacker Greg Lloyd.

Only four players received votes on offense. Sanders had 53, followed by quarterback Steve Young of San Francisco with 41. Young’s teammate, wide receiver Jerry Rice, got three votes, and Cris Carter of Minnesota got the other one.

“That’s really an honor,” said Barry Sanders, who rushed for 1,883 yards for Detroit. “That means a lot, to me and to my teammates too. I was just part of the group. There are a lot of guys on this team that make me look good. I was able to reap the benefits of playing in a good offense with a good line, good receivers and a good quarterback.”

Deion Sanders, who spent the first five NFL seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, said, “It’s a wonderful achievement. Not for myself, but I think for (defensive) coach Ray Rhodes, because he’s been responsible for capitalizing on my abilities, letting me play the way I’m playing, the way I’m being used. He’s put me in the right situations.”

San Francisco was the right place for Sanders, who played baseball and football in Atlanta in the 1993 season. He was traded to the Cincinnati Reds by the Braves, and he left the Falcons in the midst of a bidding war for his services.

Sanders turned down a more lucrative offer from New Orleans to sign with the 49ers, who gave him an incentive-laden contract that will be worth $1.1 million if they win the Super Bowl.

“I think everybody knows this is the best business decision a man ever made,” said Sanders, who had six interceptions, returning three for touchdowns and averaging 50.5 yards per return. “Everything is going as planned, better than planned.”

*

Tom Flores returned to the Seattle Seahawks’ headquarters Wednesday, refusing to say what happened after meeting in California with owner Ken Behring.

Flores, the coach and general manager, is expected to be fired. The Seahawks are 14-34 in three seasons with Flores as coach, 6-10 this season.

*

Malcolm Glazer, who has tried to buy other sports teams, met Wednesday with trustees of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers about buying the perennial cellar-dweller. The West Palm Beach financier and his sons say they want to keep the Buccaneers in Tampa, said Steve Story, a member of the three-man trust overseeing the estate of late Buccaneer owner Hugh Culverhouse. . . . Miami’s 27-20 victory over Detroit on Sunday night was the most-watched program in ESPN’s 15-year history, reaching at least 8.9 million homes. . . . ABC ended its regular season with a 20.4 rating and 36 share, highest of the season, for its Monday night offering of Minnesota-San Francisco.