September 25

YOUNG READY FOR PANTHERS

In a national media conference call on Thursday, September 25, San Francisco 49ers quarterback STEVE YOUNG answered questions on a variety of subjects:

Are you pleased with your performance the last few weeks?

It’s nice to come back and play well. It’s nice to feel like the offense is acting like itself. There’s a feel that you can hardly describe. It is a feel. The last couple of weeks have felt like 49er football and that feels good.

What does the San Francisco offense have to do against the Carolina defense?

Our offense is coming along, but we’re nowhere near where we need to be. It’s like the gates opened for the horse race and we tripped out of the gate. Now we have to get up and run again. We’re running pretty good, but we have a long way to go. We have a long way to go with new players and we have a long way to go with a line that’s been shifted around a little bit. Offensively, to be good against Carolina you can’t put the ball on the ground, you can’t throw an interception, you can’t turn it over, have penalties and can’t let the blitzes get you on third-and-13. You’ve got to play sound football.

What role has Jerry Rice taken on since his injury?

Jerry’s a great man. He’s been working hard personally to try and get back. He intends to play football this season. He’s totally focused on that. The young guys really respect him. I mean really respect him. He has not been at practice very much because it’s not good for him to stand, but the guys know that they can go to him at any time and ask him questions about routes or anything else that’s going on. Jerry’s been very open to that.

Have you been pleased with the performance of Garrison Hearst and the running game so far?

Yes, I really have, especially with the line moving around, changing and switching. It’s good to have some consistency at back. What we have with Garrison is a guy who can line up in the backfield and literally force the defense to play him and worry about him. That takes worry and concerns off the passing game and other things. I’m excited that Garrison’s been making some plays.

How has Steve Mariucci handled losing Jerry Rice and almost losing you?

He gained some respect from the players through that experience. We’re kind of on the other side of that first catastrophe. Emotionally at least we’ve moved to the other side. He was very steady through it. He showed to everybody on the team that he wasn’t going to crack. It was a good test for him to show the veterans on this team what he was made of. He gathered more respect and players that would follow him. It was a good experience for him.