Steve Young retrospective
Learning to smell the roses: Steve Young is having a
great time during the finest season of his career
By Brian Murphy
As published Nov. 28, 1994
|
|
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Through the first 12 weeks of the season, his passer rating was
down from last year. His completion percentage was down from last year. His total yards
passing was down from last year.
And Steve Young is in the middle of the finest year of his career.
"Oh yeah, very definitely, no question about it," 49er coach George Seifert
said.
"I ’ve never been around anybody who’s played better than he has the past five or six weeks,"
offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan said. "He’s in a zone right now."
"Everything is clicking for Steve," said Jerry Rice. "He ’s having fun. He’s like a
little kid out there running around."
As for Young himself, what is his take on a season that has seen him prove physical
toughness (read: absorb brutal beatings), mental toughness (read: cussing out his coach on
national TV) and the ability to play Montanian in big games (read: beat Dallas)?
"I feel like I ’m in complete control of
what’s going on," Young said. "And I’m having a great time doing it."
The big picture coming into focus shows Young, at 33, enjoying his craft and executing
it better than he ever has before. The statistics are off infinitesimally — through the first 12 weeks of the season, his completion rate was
68.2, as opposed to last year’s 70.3, and his
passer rating was 105.3, as opposed to last year’s
107.1. But those numbers, in light of Young’s
larger achievements, are only worth the price of a sideline clipboard.
Here ’s the skinny prior to the 49ers’ Week 13 Monday night game vs. New Orleans: Young’s team was 9-2, Young’s
team had beaten Dallas and Young’s team had won
six consecutive games. Perhaps most important, the 49ers — finally —- are Steve
Young’s team.
With the shadow of Joe Montana — a phrase that
used to induce cringing in Young and now just produces a knowing smile — growing ever smaller through the window of time, Young is looser
and happier as a 49er.
The week before the game against Dallas, as a phalanx of media types invaded 49er
headquarters, Young was scheduled to hold a press conference in a 49er meeting room.
Immediately prior to Young ’s scheduled arrival,
Deion Sanders was addressing the media in the same room.
When Young entered the room through a side door and saw Sanders up on the podium
talking to the assembled hordes, Young jumped on the opportunity.
"This is my house," he barked out to Sanders, an obvious reference to Deion ’s great Georgia Dome proclamation.
Everyone in the room — including Sanders — broke up laughing. The timing and delivery were impeccable, traits
Young is polishing both on and off the field.
Now, the growing brilliance of Young comes more into focus because of an intriguing
milestone he and Rice achieved in Week 12 against the Rams: Their three TD hookups gave
them 57 as a tandem and pushed them past Rice and Montana on the all-time QB-WR touchdown
combinations list.
That is not insignificant around the Bay Area. It is generally believed that Montana ’s achievements are untouchable things; unsurpassable levels of
excellence for Young to admire, not approach.
In just Young ’s fourth season as a full-time
starter, he and Rice blew past Montana and Rice’s
total of 55 scoring passes, and the pair now stands No. 3 on the all-time NFL list,
trailing only Dan Marino to Mark Clayton (79 passes) and John Unitas to Raymond Berry (63
passes).
"We ’re taking aim at the all-timers
now," Young said.
The impudence of it all, daring to stomp on Montana ’s sacred ground, and to do it with a receiver who was outspoken
about his unhappiness a few seasons back when Young became his full-time quarterback.
After the win over the Rams, the rancorous days of Rice complaining about Young seemed
a lifetime ago. Now, Rice is almost in awe of the speed with which he and Young have
teamed up for prolific achievements.
"I can ’t say my situation is worse than
when Joe was here, because we’ve surpassed Joe
now," Rice said. "So, we’re even
better."
Unthinkable words just four seasons ago now resonate with reality for a tandem that has
put the past very far behind.
"Steve has showed me so much heart," Rice said. "Early in the season,
when our offensive line was hurt and he got beat up every week, he never lost his
composure, never pointed the finger."
Age has brought perspective to Young. He said after the Ram win that he wanted to stop
for a moment and enjoy things, such as the new record with Rice. Too many times in the
past, Young said, he played with blinders on, ignoring achievements in a wild,
uncontrolled struggle for ultimate Super Bowl glory.
Now, he said, he may be learning that smelling the roses is an essential part of that
struggle, and that the ultimate accomplishments may come when he is more relaxed.
"I ’m not going to just blow through
events anymore," Young said. "Like somebody told me, we’re one game away from winning the NFC West. I want to enjoy that. I
don’t want to take anything for granted anymore.
"I am tired of not enjoying the things that we do."
Back to
retrospective main page |
|
 |
The Archives
1999 - 2000 Season |
| Online writers — features and
columns by our PFW staff, columnists, AFC reporters, NFC reporters and contributing
writers |
| College football — articles,
college notepad, key college game previews, PFW's college top 10 |
| Fantasy football — articles,
injury reports, weekly fantasy tips, weekly matchups, The Fantasy Doctor, mock drafts,
draft boards, "In our opinion" daily fantasy columns, player profiles |
| Free-agency |
| General features — Internet
features, features from our print edition, special reports |
| Handicapper's Corner —
staff selections, games of the week, PFW Players of the Week, NFL standings, weekly
handicapping columns, predictions |
| "A closer look" —
in-depth analysis of general football topics |
| "In our opinion" daily columns
— opinions on general football topics |
| "PFW spins" —
short-takes on current events |
| Joel Buchsbaum — college
player evaluations, NFL player analysis, NFL draft coverage, NFL notepad, NFList, Q and
A's, college game previews and other NFL articles by PFW's contributing editor |
| NFL Draft — player evaluations,
printouts, feature stories, commentaries, draft recaps |
| Ron Pollack — articles and
commentary by PFW's editor-in-chief |
| Season in review —
the 1999-2000 NFL season |
| XFL — a new football league begins |
|
