What Ails 49ers? Just Ask Deion

His baseball cap was cocked left, his shoes were untied, the waistband of his sweat pants hung low on his hips.

Yet Deion Sanders’ thoughts about the San Francisco 49ers Thursday were neat and organized.

He dislikes them.

He thinks they are old and dying.

He thinks they blew it by letting him join the Dallas Cowboys.

He compared them to somebody with drug and alcohol problems.

He finds Jerry Rice laughable.

He says players are blaming Coach George Seifert for their three-game losing streak.

Oh, and one more thing.

He doesn’t want Sunday’s showdown here between the Cowboys and 49ers to become bitter.

“I’m not going to give you anything to ignite this rivalry,” he said before practice. “I’m not going to make this out to be a freak show.”

Uh, sure.

So how about them ‘Niners?

“The pressure is all on them, not on the Cowboys,” he said. “They’re struggling. They’ve already started finger-pointing. Everybody is blaming it on Seifert.”

How does he know players are blaming it on Seifert?

“I still have friends there telling me what is going on,” Sanders said. “If they lose here, then go to Miami and lose next week . . . it’s not a pretty picture.”

What about their comments that they don’t miss him?

“I’ve got friends who have drug and alcohol problems, and the first stage they go through is denial . . . and the 49ers are in denial,” he said. “They say they don’t miss Deion. They don’t miss Ricky Watters. They don’t miss Mike Shanahan. They don’t miss Ray Rhodes. After all, they have the No. 1 defense in the NFL.”

Sanders laughed.

“Let’s be honest with yourself. Would you rather have the No. 1 defense or be 8-1?” he asked, not needing to mention that the 49ers are 5-4. “I’m happy to be in Dallas.”

So, what about Jerry Rice, who delivered a diatribe after the second game of the season, demeaning Sanders’ impact on the team?

At the time, Rice said, “Deion Sanders came to this team, it was like half the season [was over] when he came here. You guys should give more respect to the guys who won the games for us.”

“I took it personal,” Sanders said of Rice’s comments. “He said I was only there half of the season. I was there 14 games.”

Sanders said he still remembers hearing Rice’s now-famous monologue of bleeps.

“I laughed,” Sanders said. “It was funny, funny as hell, to me. To see a guy upset, cursing, stumbling over a few words.”

At that point, Sanders was joined by teammate Michael Irvin, who was asked to comment on Jerry.

“What Jerry?” Irvin asked. “Jerry Rice or the real Jerry? Jerry Jones!”

The two men howled, and Irvin left the room.

Sanders was then asked about an alleged confrontation between him and Rice on the Wednesday before last year’s Super Bowl. Rice berated the 49ers for missing curfew, and Sanders fired back.

“About 25 guys missed curfew, including myself, but it was a Wednesday before a Sunday game, and curfew was 11 p.m.,” Sanders said. ‘A curfew like that would never stand up around here.”

Sanders said Seifert cursed the team, then Rice took over.

“Jerry also cursed us, then I stood up,” Sanders said. “I said, ‘Wait.’ I said, ‘We all know we’re going to beat the Chargers by 30. It’s Wednesday. Don’t get so bent out of shape.’

“And that was it. There was no altercation. Jerry’s OK, he don’t mean no harm.”

Sanders said the incident typifies the difference between the 49ers and the Cowboys.

“These teams are night and day,” he said. “We are so loose, so confident, really close. In San Francisco, you punch in and out. There is no camaraderie.”

Sanders said that one of the reasons he signed with Dallas was that he saw the 49ers’ demise on the horizon.

“I looked at their depth,” he said. “I knew if Steve Young went down, that’s it. If Rice went down, they are not featuring John Taylor enough, they are in trouble. They’ve got older guys on their offensive line.

“I looked at all those things when deciding on Dallas.”

Said Carmen Policy, 49er president, in response:

“I think it becomes hackneyed to address all these superfluous comments that are made in typical bombastic fashion.

“Opportunities were given to coaches and players to enhance their careers, thanks to the experience they had with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1994 season. I wish them good luck and God bless. We’re not going to do anything to spoil the memories.”