Young Shows Walsh He Still Has the Touch

San Francisco quarterback Steve Young kept his head, completed 20 passes in a row during one stretch, and then positioned the 49ers for a 19-16 overtime victory over the Redskins Sunday, silencing a raucous RFK Stadium crowd of 54,235.

Young, who heard suggestions that he retire after sitting out all or part of eight games, including last week’s contest because of a second concussion in a span of three weeks, utilized the vintage West Coast offense of Bill Walsh to bring the 49ers (9-3) back from a 16-9 deficit with 1:57 remaining.

William Floyd ran one yard for the tying score after Young completed seven consecutive passes, and then, after winning the coin flip, Young and the 49ers needed only six plays to move 48 yards and set up Jeff Wilkins’ winning 38-yard field goal 3:24 into overtime.

“When a guy hasn’t played in a while, you look for him to struggle a little,” said San Francisco tight end Brent Jones. “But looking at Steve Young, I didn’t see any rust on those wheels.”

Washington (8-4), granted an NFC East Division reprieve later in the day when both the Cowboys (7-5) and Eagles (7-5) lost, failed to recover a Dexter Carter kickoff fumble in the fourth quarter that might have clinched the game, and trudged off the field contending they had been victimized by inexperience.

“When the ball came free on the fumbled kickoff, I was told we had it,” said Washington Coach Norv Turner. “But then when they unpiled, they had it.

“Listen, I’d like it to happen overnight here for our first-, second-, and third-year guys. But Gus Frerotte is in his third year, Michael Westbrook his first and you’ve got Steve Young and Jerry Rice over there. It was a hell of a football game and we didn’t win, but let me tell you, we’re going to be a heck of a football team.”

The Redskins, losers of three of their last four games, were good enough to get a rise out of Walsh, the 49ers’ offensive consultant, who left his private box to peer over the shoulder of a besieged Marc Trestman, San Francisco’s so-called offensive coordinator.

“Coach is the ultimate perfectionist, and that’s why he is Bill Walsh,” said Jones, who caught five passes for 70 yards. “He designed this whole offense and that’s why we got Bill here. He’s becoming more involved and he’s allowing us to go back to the attention to detail that Bill Walsh teams were known for.”

The 49ers’ offense stalled four times short of the end zone against Washington’s defense--ranked No. 30 in the NFL--prompting Wilkins to kick field goals of 20, 48 and 44 yards, and miss from 46 yards. But then Walsh put on the headphones, and the 49ers went on the attack.

“I was not a factor, believe me,” said Walsh, but no one seemed to be. “Marc Trestman called his best game of the year.”

A few weeks ago, San Francisco Coach George Seifert urged Walsh to take a more active role in improving the 49ers’ offense, and while Trestman is still invited to join the practice huddles, there are indications he could take the day off and no one would notice him missing.

“That was the old 49ers out there and that’s the most reassuring thing of this game,” said Carmen Policy, San Francisco team president. “To pull it out with Steve, with our offense, with our running game, I can tell you I’m bullish on our chances. I’m not betting the kids’ tuition money on this, but I’m investing some of my discretionary dollars.”

Young, who led with his helmet on a quarterback sneak on the team’s third offensive play, ran four times for 25 yards, was sacked four times and could still recall his own name at game’s end. After Young was kicked in the shin at the end of the regulation, Seifert immediately advised Elvis Grbac to begin warming up, but Young came back.

“I think Steve was really embarrassed with the concussion thing and how it was overplayed,” Jones said. “There was retirement talk, but I know this guy is going to play forever. In order for this team be the complete package, he has to run with the ball, and you know he’s not afraid to do that.”

In the first half, Young scrambled and, rather than slide for safety, he ran head up into a wall of Washington defenders before being smacked by Redskin defensive back Stanley Richard.

“I was having a great time,” said Young, who completed 33 of 41 passes for 295 yards without an interception. “When Washington went ahead late in the game, I looked over and the stands were moving up and down because the people were so into it. I looked to the sky, it was gray, and the field was like mud and I was just enjoying the whole atmosphere here. It makes it even better winning like this, and knowing this is the last year for RFK before they play in their new stadium.”

Young, while displaying the enthusiasm of a youngster, had apparently been criticized along with his teammates by former Redskin quarterback and now team broadcaster Sonny Jurgensen. The 49ers were advised that Jurgensen had bad-mouthed them for being an old, washed-up team.

“In the back of everybody’s mind, who was over 30, I think that provided a little extra get-up-and-go,” Jones said.

Young said Walsh had a few things to say to the team Saturday night about statements made in Washington this week, but he would not say whether they concerned Jurgensen.

“This was probably his [Walsh’s] 10th Redskin game and there is a sense of history that he brings to these guys that they need to hear,” Young said. “It makes the game more emotional.”

Whether it was Jurgensen, Walsh or a revitalized Young who inspired the 49ers, they appear to be positioning themselves to play their best football when it counts the most.