RiceWatch: Game 2, Rams

Here's the breakdown of Rice's action from the Ram game:
  1. 8 yard slant against the zone. Tackled.
  2. [runs a reverse for 4 yards, dragged down]
  3. 3 yard in-out, push-off against DB (no definitive pattern). Fell down when trying to juke a defender.
  4. 2 yard in under the LB zone. Swung down.
  5. [lines up in wrong formation. Steve Young gets mad at him, calls a timeout]
  6. 3 yard drag under zone. Dives to ground after spinning off a tackler.
  7. 14 yard out. Beats Anthony Parker 1-on-1. Bobbles ball, goes out of bounds.
  8. 10 yard hook, incomplete against zone. Rice was probably the decoy for a swing pass but Elvis made wrong decision. Pass should have been intercepted, but dropped.
  9. 3 yard drag, the one where Rice delays for a count then runs across under the LB zone. Gets block from T.Owens and gets big gain before stepping out of bounds.
  10. 33 yard streak against blown zone. Falls out of bounds. Announcer Jerry Glanville remarks, "the corner thinks he has the flat and the safety has the deep outside." But the safety bites on the fake to B.Jones over the middle and Rice is wide open. An incredulous Glanville says, "You can't let Jerry Rice run down there all by himself!" Fans chant "Jerry!" as if Rice did something special.
  11. 36 yard pass interference called on Lyght when Rice runs into him. Obviously a ridiculous call. Says Glanville, "the ball was totally uncatchable!" No replay is shown. The announcers, obviously expecting to discuss the replay, are flustered; there's a moment of silence, then announcers start to talk about an injury substitution. It's as if the director is talking in their ear pieces that they aren't going to show the replay and to talk about something else (read: cover it up).
The totals: of the 7 receptions, 4 were caught under five yards from the line of scrimmage. Of the 9 attempts to Rice, 6 were 10 yards or under. Of the 8 times Rice got the ball, he was tackled 3 times and took no real hits. Most of his success came against blown coverage or holes in zones. The one time Rice legitimately beat a DB over 10 yards downfield, he almost dropped the ball.