Elvis Gets Vote of Confidence With Victory

Now who’s embarrassed? Certainly not Elvis Grbac.

Shaking off San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown’s harsh criticism, Grbac ran for a score and threw for 268 yards, including a 34-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Rice, in the 49ers’ 38-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens (3-8) on Sunday.

Despite driving rain, Grbac completed 26 of 31 passes, and defensive end Chris Doleman scored when he recovered a fumble in the end zone.

“We’ve been rallying behind Elvis all year. We just told him to take care of business as he had in the past,” said fullback William Floyd.

Playing for injured Steve Young, benched on doctors’ orders because of a second concussion in three weeks, Grbac led five scoring drives for San Francisco (8-3), rebounding from his poor outing in last week’s 20-17 overtime loss to Dallas.

“He was under a lot of pressure and it was a game he had to win,” Baltimore Coach Ted Marchibroda said of Grbac, now 6-3 in starts for an injured Young over the last two seasons. “I told our football team during the week, ‘Don’t underestimate this guy. He’s won a lot of games as a backup quarterback.’ ”

The victory was the 103rd in George Seifert’s coaching tenure, one more than Bill Walsh.

Grbac also had two interceptions but they weren’t costly like the two he had last week against the Cowboys, which prompted Brown’s criticism of Grbac as “an embarrassment to humankind.” The mayor made the remarks in a conference call while in Paris on a goodwill tour and was unaware of Grbac’s disclosure that his nine-month-old son Jack has spina bifida and recently underwent major surgery to correct spinal problems.

The infant is back at home recovering well, and Brown personally apologized to Grbac.

“He said it was a stupid mistake and I did forgive him,” said Grbac, who was greeted by a loud pregame ovation and several banners in the crowd reading “Elvis for Mayor.”

Grbac, a native of Cleveland who rooted for the Browns before the franchise moved to Baltimore, said more than the mayor’s flap was on his mind.

“It was a tough game to play,” he said. “No. 1, I really played for my family, secondly, for my teammates and third the people of Cleveland because I grew up in Cleveland.”

Baltimore (3-8) was forced to play most of the game without Vinny Testaverde, who left early in the second quarter because of a rib injury. Eric Zeier replaced him.

“I wanted to go out and play in the fourth quarter but when I was warming up I didn’t feel too good,” said Testaverde, adding he believes he’ll be able to return Sunday against Jacksonville.

Grbac directed the go-ahead drive, completing all eight passes for 53 yards and getting a key first down on a sneak to the Baltimore 5. Three plays later, Floyd scored.