RiceWatch: Game 4, Falcons

Here's the breakdown of Rice's action from the Falcons game. Note: the yardage is where Rice catches the ball in relation to the line of scrimmage:
  1. 7 yard curl. Man. Tackled, although Tuggle misses excellent opportunity to lay Rice out.
  2. Pass interference. 30 yard crossing pattern through the safety zone; Walker called for the pass interference. The pass is behind Rice, so as Rice stops, Walker reaches out. Rice falls to act out the contact.
  3. 3 yard slant under zone. Falls under tackle.
  4. 24 yard TD reception on trick play. Safety leaves zone to play the run, Kirby throws to the wide open Rice. Is there anything more humorous and perfect that Rice, master of the cheesy touchdown, catches his first of the year on a trick play? Rice is then hoisted by his teammates in celebration-- as if Rice was responsible for the TD, not the safety buying the fake run.
  5. 35 yard streak incomplete. The coverage looks to be man with safety help, but since they rarely show a replay when Rice does not make the catch, it's hard to tell.
  6. 13 yard curl. Zone. Rice catches it, looks to see potential tacklers, so dives to ground to avoid hit. Even Madden notices Rice's lack of effort, commenting on how Rice's vaunted run after catch is way down this year.
  7. 3 yard slant. Man coverage, attempted bump but Rice pushes off. But Tuggle gets Rice this time. Called a "remarkable catch" by Pat Summerall despite the fact it was made 3 yards away from the line of scrimmage. Rice makes gesture for first down in the face of defense (the same gesture that Carolina did that upset Merton Hanks so much-- but, hey, it's apparently ok for the 49ers to do it). Madden uses the opportunity to contribute to the Rice toughness myth, saying "Rice is saying 'you can't hurt me.'" Rice later leaves the game with a hip injury in the 3rd quarter. Madden, of course, doesn't repeal his comment.
  8. 7 yard curl. Zone. Tackled.
  9. 14 yard reverse. Runs out of bounds.
  10. 5 yard out. Covered man by McKyer, who then jumps on Rice's back but never really tackles him.
Madden remarked as Rice left the game that "today he didn't look like Jerry Rice." Madden was half right; of the 7 receptions, only 3 were caught five yards or under from the line of scrimmage-- usually Rice catches more under 5 yards. But, true to form, of the 8 times Rice got the ball, he was tackled just 3 times and took 1 real hit, and that one lone hit (which wasn't even that hard) was enough to knock Fifi out of the game.