PRO FOOTBALL ’95 : Rice Lashes Out After 49ers’ 41-10 Victory

Jerry Rice made his point on the field. Just in case anyone missed it, he made it again in the locker room.

Seething at speculation the loss of Deion Sanders could be a fatal blow to San Francisco’s championship hopes, Rice helped the 49ers trounce the Atlanta Falcons, 41-10, Sunday.

“There’s been a lot of talk about the situation,” said Rice, who scored two touchdowns on 11 receptions for 167 yards. “It really motivated us. We really took it to them.”

Atlanta Coach June Jones couldn’t argue.

“It was ugly in every phase,” he said. “We started very poorly and couldn’t recover.”

Following the game, Rice became increasingly agitated at the notion that the 49ers wouldn’t have won the Super Bowl without Sanders and that they can’t repeat without him.

“You guys made this into a circus,” Rice told reporters, his voice rising in anger. “It takes a team effort to get to the Super Bowl. It’s an insult what you guys did. The whole team was angry. It was an insult to all of the guys who busted their butts last year and in training camp this year. You guys didn’t give them any respect and that . . . me off.”

At that point, Rice was led away by 49ers public relations officials.

“I knew Jerry would respond. I knew he would be upset,” said safety Tim McDonald, who returned his second interception for a touchdown in as many weeks. “But it’s not just Jerry. Look, we all love Deion. This is nothing against Deion. But for the media to sit and say could we have won the Super Bowl without him, that’s tough for us as individual players to handle.”

Steve Young set the tone when he came out throwing, going six of six on the opening drive and finishing with an 18-yard scoring pass to Rice, who dragged Ron Davis the final couple of steps into the end zone for his 141st career touchdown.

Young completed 27 of 40 for 331 yards and three touchdowns, the last a short pass to Rice that the Pro Bowl receiver turned into a 29-yard score.

“Football is an emotional game that you play with the guys that are with you and to come off the field after a 41-10 win and talk about something that’s not really about that, it’s a little frustrating for him I’m sure and for all of us,” Young said. “We’ll just move on and look forward to playing some great football.”