RiceWatch: Game 5, at Rams

Here's the breakdown of Rice's action from the Rams game. Note: the yardage is where Rice catches the ball in relation to the line of scrimmage:

  1. 16 yard out. Man coverage. Rice pushes off Lyght, Lyght falls down. Rice catches the pass on the 2-yard line and slows to walk into the end zone but is popped by Wright ("that's not in the script!" (to quote Brent Jones' commercial))-- probably the hardest hit Rice has taken all year. Millen just about reaches orgasm in his description of how great Rice is, finishing with "he'll also take the shot." Millen is implying that Rice takes such hard hits on a regular basis, but we know it is a fact that he has taken only 4 hard hits all year. Rice comes off the field to sit out a play.

  2. 5 yard drag under the zone. 2 tacklers converge so Rice dives to the ground.

  3. 31 yard post. Stockton exclaims, "what a great catch in double-coverage!" It was a good catch, but it certainly was not double-coverage-- it was zone all the way, as the 2 guys nearest to Rice were the safety and linebacker 55. Shoved to the ground while making catch. Rice gets up slowly, goes to sit out and the 49ers call a time-out.

  4. 2 yard drag under the zone. Dives under tackle. Most amusing part of this pattern is that the ref (that's supposedly watching the O-line for holding) actually moves so he doesn't get in the way of Rice.

  5. 14 yard out, incomplete. Zone. Rice makes a good catch, but fails to do what you would think a great receiver would do: keep both feet in bounds. One official, obviously smitten with Rice, calls it a reception. Luckily, another more impartial ref overrules the blatantly blown call. The announcers are disappointed.

  6. 5 yard out. Covered man by Torin Dorn. Dives under tackle.

  7. 8 yard out, incomplete. Man coverage, the defender had fallen (presumably because Rice pushed off as usual), but the ball was overthrown. Rice looks around for a flag and then at Grbac, as if assigning blame.

  8. 33 yard streak, incomplete. Man coverage. Rice sits on the ground for a long time, apparently disgusted by Grbac's gall to actually overthrow him again.

  9. 0 yard cross under zone (actually caught behind the line of scrimmage). Ankle-tackled by Goss.

  10. 30 yard fade for touchdown. Man covered by backup corner Mike Scurlock. Falls while making catch, injures knee, leaves game. Rice's first TD catch from a QB this year.
Rice returned back to his normal self: of Rice's 7 receptions, 4 were caught within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Rice also finally caught his first legitimate TD pass (albeit it was accomplished by beating Scurlock). This TD prompted a flood of mail to NHS from poor Rice fans that had to wait until week 6 before having something to cheer about.