Rice’s Season Ends--for the Second Time

Jerry Rice’s touchdown in his astonishing return from major knee surgery came at an awful price: He cracked his kneecap when crashing to the ground and will sit out the rest of the season.

“It was very surprising, and the word [team doctors] used was it was a fluke,” San Francisco Coach Steve Mariucci said Tuesday.

“It’s very unfortunate. He was playing very well. He felt very good. After the play, he did get up slow. But that’s where the fracture took place, when his knee hit the ground.”

“Obviously, it was a shock to him and a disappointment.”

Rice’s touchdown catch was the 49ers’ first score in their 34-17 win over Denver on Monday night that clinched home field for San Francisco throughout the playoffs. He underwent surgery Tuesday to repair the left kneecap, which was broken across the middle and likely will need a screw or wire inserted into it to hold it together and promote healing.

Rice made a leaping grab of Steve Young’s pass in the end zone between defenders Darrien Gordon and Steve Atwater, whose jolting hit sent Rice to the ground. He got up walked off on his own power, but he didn’t go back into the game.

“The thing went well,” Rice told KGO-TV as he left the hospital Tuesday night. “It was unfortunate what happened but I wouldn’t go back and change nothing.”

Rice, the NFL’s career leader in touchdowns, receptions and receiving yardage, added he didn’t believe he rushed his comeback.

“I felt like I was ready and I sparked the team at the right time,” he said. “It was one of those unfortunate things. It comes along with the game of football. I’ll be back. I’m not worried about that.”

Team doctors suspected the kneecap might be broken after X-rays late Monday night and an MRI scan Tuesday confirmed the fracture.

The surgery was performed by team physician Michael Dillingham, who repaired shredded ligaments in the same knee when Rice was injured in the season opener at Tampa Bay on Aug. 31, the first major injury in 13 years in the NFL.

“The patella fracture was in good position and fixed with screws,” Dillingham said in a statement after the operation at Stanford Hospital. “His prognosis is very encouraging, and he is expected to fully participate in the post-draft mini camps [in May].”

Dillingham said Rice would be in a brace for six weeks but could begin rehabilitation work in a week.

Mariucci said doctors told him the two injuries were unrelated, and Rice’s reconstructed knee escaped any ligament or cartilage damage.

He also said the titanium brace Rice wore offered mostly protection from a hit on the side rather than a frontal blow to the kneecap. Rice wasn’t wearing a knee pad, which could have cushioned the blow. NFL receivers and defensive backs frequently don’t wear knee pads because they say it slows them down.

Mariucci said he had no regrets about allowing Rice to return from his first injury.