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Show BM TheSalt Lake Tribune SPORTS Saturday, December25, 1999 Salary Cap May Block Rice’s Return to 49ers ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS « SANTA CLARA, Calif. — San Francisco's Jerry Rice, the most prolific receiver in NFL history, might not return to the 49ers next season because ofthe salaary cap and personnelissues. “ never thoughtI'd be in this save the team a lot of money with restructured contracts, but that would mean the team would face the same cap problems in 2001. Qa KANSAS CITY Kicking a football doesn't seem all that complicateee though, it has been a permanent ‘predicament, but here I am,” Rice ‘said.“I'm looking at it with a very positive attitude and I’m working hard during practices and I'm just mee to make the team for next Pr After struggling all season with short kickoffs that give opponents enviablefield position, the Chiefs will veRice will play the 15th homefinale of his career Sunday night against Washington. And 49ers General ManagerBill Walsh told once again be trying someone new when theyplay in Seattle on Sunday. Needing to win to nail down the AFC West championship, the Chiefs will go with barefooted new- Jerry Rice the Contra Costa Times that 49ers fans should not assumethere will bea 16th. comer Jon Baker, late of the Canadian Football e. Heis the third man they havetried this year. “T really hope they accountforthe fact thatit’s not for certain that he'll play next year and that they'll respond accordingly,” Walshsaid Thursday. He indicated that he had hoped that Tice and quarterback Steve Young would have agreed to make At 6-foot-1 and a slender 183 pounds, Baker looks like a boy among menin the locker room. How can little guys kick the ball so muchfarther than big guys? “A lot of it has to do with technique,” he said. “Technique andrepetition. Those new balls have a very small sweetspot. If you don’t hit them perfect, ‘Sundaytheir final home game. “{Rice] expects to play, but we never know, so this mightbe thelast time they see him at home.” Rice, 37, leads the 49ers with 56 receptions and five touchdowns this season, thought he is averaging a career-low 11.5 yards percatch. After injuring both knees since 1997, Rice said hefinally is healthy and Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich. BYUwill face Marshall in the Motor City Bow! at the Silverdome on Monday. In other words,it’s accuracy of the foot as much as powerin the leg. BYU’s ‘Bored’ HooksStill Seeking Respect Q BEARS ‘Thefirst time he met his new team, Chicago Coach wants to be aroundto help the team bounce back from a disastrous season. “Tm a San Francisco 49er, and I wantto end that Dick Jauron talked about the The way Jauronsees it, there shouldn’t be anything tentionsto play next season. “regular” about any season. Every year should be Butit isn’t that simple, Walshsaid. “The only way we can have them backis if we recalculate their contracts,” Walsh said. “It might be a pay cut here, but more incentives there. There’s a formula here. We feel wehavea formula that might about winning a championship. “When Coach Jauron camein, hetold us we could win and win now,” return man Glyn Milburn said. “Hestill believes we can win. That kind of attitude by our coaching staff has helped us stay together through the ups and downs.” work for everybody.” Rice is scheduled to count for $5.49 million next season and Young $8.1 million. Both figures would ‘contribute to the 49ers being about $18 million over the projected salary cap for 2000. If Rice and Young were to retire at the end of the season, the team would save only $740,000.If they re- Saints Damage Cowboys’ Postseason Plans NFL STANDINGS eee orateacres WLT Pet. PFPA xindanapolla 12-20 i om 3H twointerceptions. Miami Dallas 0717 om _— WO 714-31 NO—PG Brien 2,425. @ Continued from B-1 NO—Poole @ pass from Dethomme (Brien kick), 138. Delhomme, whoplayed in the NFL Europe the last two springs but had never evensuited upsince the Saints re-signed him four weeks ea showed poise and a strong Second Quarter Dal—£.Smith 1 run (Murray kick), 1098, ‘Third ‘Dal—Tucker 20 pass from Aikman (Murray kick), 10a. Dal--FG Murray 33,558. ie 51 pass from Delhomme (Brien aris first NFL pass wastipped at 16, quarter. Dal 4 The Cowboys seemed to have the upper handearly in the third quarter. Troy Aikman hit Jason Tucker with a 20-yard touchdown pass on Dallas’ first possession for a 14-10 lead and Eddie Murray's field goal stretched the lead to 17-10. Delhommefound Eddie Kenni- son with a 51-yard scoring pass that tied it at 17-17. Dallas came back quickly on David LaFleur’s 3aa reception to retake the lead 24-17. TheSaints didn't crumble. Delhomme tied the game on a 4-yard fuarterback draw in the fourth quarter and Fred Weary put the Saints up 31-24 when he grabbed Dal-—LeFleur 3 pass from Aikman (Murraykick), Fourth Quarter #& the line of scrimmage and intercepted, and healso lost a fumble when blindsided in the third NO—-Dethomme érun Brien kick), 11:16 First downs . i 2B. oo ‘5426 H 18 B61 nea er idea neg . tiac Silverdome on Monday as a chance to “prove some things”and “put my point down” so other teams heybe is one of the best wide receivers in college Comp-Att-Int ‘Yards oe Punts Pumbles-Lost_ a . ets for the game, the Herd have moved more than 12,000 for their third consecutive appearance in the “T felt that I was sort ofshysted little bit,” he said. bowl. That is more than they have eversold. Schoolofficials are hoping to sell perhaps another 1,000 tickets, too, whichis easier for them than for the Cougars because their campus is only about a-six- Hooks said he grew tired of seeing other wide re- hour drive from the Silverdome. Many BYU fanshad fanfare. “What do they do different than I do?” he said. Play every game, perhaps? Hooks acknowledged having his worst games against some of the Cougars’ worst opponents,like New Mexico andUtah State, because he was bored by what he considered a lesser challenge. In bigger games against better teams, however, he played better. He had seven catches for 108 yards and a touchdown ina win overCal, for instance, and made 14 catches for 282 yards and twoscores in the Cougars’ two chances to clinch the leaguetitie outright. BYU lost both of those games, however, to Wyoming and to make a cross-country journey. Qa HISTORY LESSON The Thundering Herd might sound like a cobl nickname now,but40 years ago students at Marshall voted for Big Green to be the official nicknameof their athletic teams. Thundering Herd, however, had been around since 1919, when a former sports editor and columnist atthe Huntington Herald-Dispaich newspaperpilfered it from the title of a Zane Gray novel to commemorate the buffalo once commonie thehills ofWest Virginia: The namerefused to di So, seven years after te students voted againet it ‘Cleveland 2130 133 168 48 celebration or trash-talking display against the Thundering Herd, just the kind of pass-cat performance thatwill “let people know !’m outthere.” The junior also wants to use the bowl game as a adopted by a committee of faculty members and stu. dents seeking a more exciting nickname than Big Green. Nv‘oum 110 a0 a aw 1:80 Ae mm 28 7170 50 2 me ma i Hi SSs teat awe ae en en YJacksonville West Kansas Cty 9 50 663 58 358 Seattle 860 1 306 286 Sorbie ti) ware ‘Denver 580 37 wl me NATIONALCONFERENCE re Wet ret pr ra Groen Bay cSt tows Carona 680 49 mT me ke Fe aos wal gm 860-57 mem 260 sn aa 77.0 500 m8 8 ‘ee 9 ash ase 7.700 57 sm Se NewOrlans” 312.0 0 a4 0 aio au a4 as ‘ania ‘161 33 5420 aw 1198 PenaltiesYards $22 MSc Tine ofPosesion Soe 8 JALLRADERS {USHING DaanSai 1Tomes 312 ewOren Willan 4, Cre ‘Miminus 6) PASSING—Dellas, Aikman 302246. New Or Darecheep gena ‘Tucker 7-128, LeFleur 40, Iona!$24ESmi38 emo 9, Sanders 330 Bramell 121, Thomas | Kennison 4, RL Wllam 33,Wior 328 ats 494Cleland, Pann, AT THE TICKET WINDOW While the Cougars have sold more than 5,000 tick- Utah. Hooks said he isn't planning any gaudy end-zone Re Detroit Rushesyards Passing 950 68 25 a7 be interesting to watch, considering the Cougars will be breaking in a new quarterback. Q 13 1 0 929 958 168 ‘New Engiand te sigan ‘NO—Weary6fumble return (Brien kick), =I AATR85. 12 46 Yet hefeels disrespected. So he said he is approaching the Cougars’ game ceivers considered as “supermen” while he accomplished many of the same things with much less the worstin the NFL. the Pigskin Classic against Florida State — he plans to make an assault on the BYU record book and establish himself as the best in the nation. That should against Marshall in the Motor City Bowl at the Pon- prising turnarounds. A team expected to win three or four games is 6-8 with two games left andstill has a remote chance atthe playoffs. quarterback carousel that included a rookie and two journeymencastoffs, and a kicking gamethat’s one of springboard for next season, when — beginning with in seven years — and seven touchdowns doing it and was named to the All-Mountain West Conference first team. “I was kindof the forgotten thing.” z Emmitt Smith's fumble and returned it 58 yards for a touchdown. Aikman was 23-0f:39 for 246 yards and two touchdowns, with ‘New Orleans ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Margin Hooks caught60 passes for Brigham Young this season, compiled 1,067 yards — best by a Cougar Those two words, “championship season,” have been the cornerstone of one of the NFL's more sur- Notsold? Consider the Bears have doneit with a structure their contracts and send their retirement paperwork into the leagueoffice after June 1, the team would save more than $10 million. They could BY MICHAEL C. LEWIS “championship season.” Washereferringto the Bears’1985 run? Some new term the NFL cooked upfor the playoffs? Neither. When the rookie coach said “championship season,” he meantthe regular season. way and I want to come backnextyear,” hesaid.“It’s unfortunate that I don’t haveanycontroloverit. We'll see what happens.” In manyways, Rice and Young,38, find themselves in similar positions. Both have expressed their in- Brigham Young University punt retum specialist Jaron ‘Osby runs back a practice punt on ne inthe they're not going to go anywhere.” BYU in Memphis,getting ready for the Bowl. Now,they’re in De- troit, probably the least attractive Happy to Be In M ofthe destinations, So university officials do what Motown basketball shoes were part of the gift pac! so Hill simply pulled them out'rid played Santa Claus a day or two early. Meanwhile, the players spent they can to spread a little holiday their free time hanging out at a ey pothe travel Lasisdtat Lt tel on Friday it, ani cheon. Since myoa them oa were able to bring wives an cheer. They held a Christmas mall arcade and a steakhouse lun- . Continued from B-1 prepared gift packages for each of the players. dozen Cougars are married — they “The years we didn’t go to a bowl, it kind offelt like Christmas The players received some of their gifts early,too. After equipment manager Mick hardlyfelt like they were all algne for the big day. And even if they were, they passed us by,” said defensive end Byron Frisch. “Now, I've become kind of used to it, and now,this is what Christmas is all about.” The Cougars have been away from homefor Christmas three of the last four years. In 1996, they were in Dallas preparing for the Cotton Bowl. Last year, they were i in 1958, the name Thundering Herd was officidily _Hill made frantic isto order and ship special shoes for the players to use on theartificial turf at the Silverdome, the Cougars were told by Lions staff and players that they would be better children to the game— nearly two would wantit that way. “I love my family and all: of that,” said defensive tackle Hans Olsen. “But when you're notat a bow meeyoufeel kind of aban: like something was keft off using plain old basketball shoes. It just so happened that The nar ap hey cnt all the talking on Mc bie. Christmas Game Doesn’t Thrill Lions, Broncos ue sick andtired of playing on holidays. And he's not alone. + The Lions (8-6) will entertain the Denver Broncos (5-9) today. It i a situation neither team enjoys. jut the Lions haveextra reasons. ; The Lions already have played gn Halloween and Thanksgiving. And, a few days after playing on Christmas, they haveto travel to Minnesota on New Year's Eve. + “T hate it,” Porcher said. “It's ‘ne of the things that’s part of our Job thata lot of people don't think @bout. » “People always say we have $uch easy jobs, but from July qhrough the end of the season, we don't have any daysoff." } He doesn’t likeit. This is a time hen Porcher feels he should be me with his children. “| don't care how much money you make,” Porcher said. “You can't makeupforthat.” Lions Coach Bobby Ross is sympathetic to the players’ plight. Still, this is an important gamefor the Lions. So while trying to do everything he can for his players, Ross knowsthat Detroit must win to stay in the hunt for an NFC playoff berth. Ross told the players they could report later than usual to the team hotel Friday night. Because the gamedoesn’t start until 4:15 p.m. local time, Ross can put off any team meetings until morning. Yet the prospect of sleeping ina team hotel, rather than at home, was something less than appealingto either team, “There's a lot ofotherplaces I'd like to be on Christmas Day, such as home with my family,” Broncos’ quarterback Brian Griese said. “ButI'm looking forward to playing the Lions.” For those HARD-TO-SHOP-FORfriends,relatives, shut-in’s, newlyweds & college students, give the gift that's perfect for all occasions... The Salt Lake Tribune or Deseret News It’s a practical and unique gift that holds something special for people of all ages and fits into every shopping budget: We will deliver a Gift Card with the first day of service. CALL 237-2960 TODAY!!! esses THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PONTIAC, Mich. — Robert Porcher, the Detroit Lions’ defenbive end, loves football. But he’s |
