ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 25, 1996 TAG: 9611260045
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
In a season in which several NFC teams are grasping at superiority, you grab what you can when you can.
That's what Junior Bryant did Sunday on the tattered turf of RFK Stadium. The San Francisco 49ers' season may have turned on a turnover that wasn't.
Bryant's recovery of Dexter Carter's kick-return fumble started the 49ers toward a score-tying drive, and then San Francisco (9-3) turned the tables on its previous experience against NFC contenders.
``It's about time we won one in overtime,'' said 49ers cornerback Tyronne Drakeford, the former Virginia Tech star. ``Dallas and Green Bay had beaten us the same way.''
San Francisco won the coin toss - calling tails as it had to win the one at the game's beginning - and seven plays later got Jeff Wilkins' 38-yard field goal for a 19-16 victory over Washington.
It was the Redskins' second straight OT loss at RFK, and it was huge, with Washington facing a short week with a Thanksgiving date at Dallas. It also was a downer for the Redskins (8-4) should the NFC playoff race come down to tie-breakers.
The extra period was over in less than 3 1/2 minutes, primarily because former Virginia star Terry Kirby used a 25-yard run to cap his best game since his move from Miami to San Francisco in a trade.
His run on San Francisco's third play in overtime moved the 49ers into field-goal range. Kirby also had two of his game-high 11 receptions and three runs on the Niners' drive to William Floyd's 1-yard touchdown with 1:57 left in regulation.
Until the final eight minutes, it appeared the NFC contenders would be content to try and equal the seven field goals kicked by Dallas' Chris Boniol in last Monday's win over Green Bay.
It was 9-9. Then Washington scored and kicked off, and Bryant appeared to wrestle his way to possession at the bottom of a pileup. The 49ers went 73 yards in 11 plays, including seven straight pass completions by Steve Young.
Young didn't get another concussion. He was kicked in a shin on the final play of regulation, when he forced the ball out of bounds and was called for intentional grounding. That's why San Francisco coach George Seifert had Elvis Grbac warming up during the lucky coin toss.
``The last two times we lost that toss and we lost the game, to Dallas and Green Bay,'' Kirby said. ``The coin toss is big. Really, we should have won before that.''
Or, as Young said, ``We just kept screwing up.''
So did Washington. The Redskins, superb all season in the red zone, four times penetrated the 49ers' 15-yard line, and three times moved inside the 10 - but managed only one touchdown.
San Francisco stopped Washington's ground game, but the Redskins befuddled the 49ers through the air, as the emerging Michael Westbrook grabbed a career-high seven receptions.
Seifert said the 49ers overplayed the run and got beat downfield more often then he expected. Drakeford, who wrestled Westbrook through several patterns, said Washington made another change.
``They had Westbrook running the routes they had Henry Ellard running on the films we watched,'' Drakeford explained. ``Once we figured that out, we were OK.''
The Redskins' problem was, as usual, on defense. Although Washington only allowed one touchdown to a team with more than Canton-bound Jerry Rice, when the 49ers needed to move the ball against a team ranked 30th - and last - in yards allowed in the NFL, they did.
San Francisco went 37 yards in 35 seconds for a tying field goal just before halftime. Then, the 49ers cruised downfield for their score-tying touchdown and shocked the Redskins with Kirby's longest run in OT.
``We hadn't run over the middle all day,'' Kirby said of his 25-yarder, the only rush of more than 12 yards in the game. ``The trap worked.
``We won, but in a way, this is still a bit of a letdown. We can play so much better offensively. We have to play much better. We have to stop getting field goals. That's three points, but field goals don't win championships.''
Young was a superb 33 of 41 through the air while getting beaten around a bit, but the only Elvis sightings were on the 49ers' sideline.
``It was a tough ballgame, but that touchdown drive was championship football,'' Young said. ``We've played like that many times before. We have to do it again. We've been trying to find ourselves. Maybe we did.''
Where the Redskins will find themselves sooner than they'd like is on a plane to Dallas.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines KEYWORDS: FOOTBALLby CNB