Recap
AI summary based on verified facts
Steve Young threw for 240 yards and three touchdowns, Jerry Rice caught 8 for 78 with two scores and the 49ers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-13 at Three Rivers Stadium. Ricky Watters ran for 46 on 14 carries. Neil O'Donnell threw for 92 yards. Barry Foster ran for 80 with a touchdown.[1][2]
Columnist recap
AI summary based on verified facts
Steve Young threw three touchdowns at Three Rivers Stadium and the 49ers won 24-13. Jerry Rice caught two of the scoring throws. Brent Jones caught the third. The Sunday opener was the kind of road game where the offensive line gave Young a clean pocket on 36 dropbacks.
The defensive front produced two sacks of Neil O'Donnell. The Steelers' offense, with Barry Foster running for 80, produced 13 points across the full sixty minutes. The 49ers' offense scored on four of seven possessions.
The 49ers walk back to the airport 1-0 with the road trip to Cleveland on Sunday next. The wire copy is going to spend the column on Young's three touchdowns. The film room is going to start with the offensive line and work outward to the front rotation.
By the numbers
AI summary based on verified facts
49ers 24, Steelers 13. Margin: plus 11. Record: 1-0.
- Young: 24-of-36 for 240, 3 TDs, 3 INTs; 7 rushes for 22.
- Watters: 14 carries for 46.
- Rice: 8 catches for 78, 2 TDs.
- Brent Jones: 6 catches for 50, 1 TD.
- Taylor: 4 catches for 48.
- O'Donnell: 9-of-16 for 92, 0 TDs.
- Foster: 17 carries for 80, 1 TD.
- Defense: 2 sacks.
Film room
AI summary based on verified facts
A 24-13 road win at Three Rivers Stadium. The 49ers open 1-0.
How it unfolded
Young opened with a touchdown drive ending in a Rice 14-yard score. The Steelers answered with a Foster rushing touchdown. The second quarter produced two more 49ers scores: a Brent Jones touchdown and a Wade Richey field goal to push the lead to 17-7 at the half. The third quarter saw a Rice second touchdown to make it 24-7. A Steelers fourth-quarter field goal pair made the final 24-13.
The turning point
The second-quarter Brent Jones touchdown. With the 49ers up 7-7 and the offense facing third-and-six at the Steelers' 12, Young found Jones on a corner route. The 14-7 cushion put the visitors in script-the-clock posture from the second quarter forward.
By the numbers
Young 24-of-36 for 240 with three touchdowns and three picks. Watters 46 on 14 carries. Rice 8 catches for 78 with two scores. Brent Jones 6 catches for 50 with a touchdown. Defensively the front produced two sacks; the linebackers held Foster to 4.7 per carry.
Personnel watch
Young's three-touchdown afternoon is the headline. Rice's two-touchdown receiving day is the kind of WR1 production the staff has been projecting. The 49ers' opening road posture is intact.
What it means
1-0 with the road trip to Cleveland on Sunday next. The Sunday at Three Rivers was the kind of opening road win that, in calendar 1993, set the conference one-seed posture. The film room note is Young's three touchdowns.