San Francisco’s best gather to honor Young

As Steve Young listened to the Candlestick Park crowd roar at his jersey retirement ceremony, he looked at Jerry Rice and wished he was in his old No. 8 uniform instead of a suit.

“Honestly I feel like I want to play,” Young said after the ceremony. “My life is sublime now and great and wonderful in many ways but you can’t replace it.”

Young was honored at halftime of the San Francisco 49ers game on Sunday against the New England Patriots. He was introduced to the adoring crowd by his close friend and former teammate Brent Jones, who called Young a “brilliant field general” who “could destroy you with his left arm and then could turn around and destroy you as well with his legs.”

Several members of the 49ers glory teams from the late 1980s and ’90s were on stage with Young for the ceremony, including Rice, Jones, Harris Barton and Jesse Sapolu.

Dolphins defense stands tall

On fourth-and-goal, a goal-line stand capped a dominating performance by a Dolphins defense that allowed just 202 yards and 10 first downs to beat the San Diego 17-10 at Miami.

“Our defense was outstanding,” coach Tony Sparano said.

Facing a team that led the NFL in scoring average, the Dolphins pressured Philip Rivers, blanketed his receivers and limited Tomlinson to 35 yards rushing. Yet it might have all been for naught had Miami (2-2) not risen to the occasion with a seven-point lead on the line early in the fourth quarter.

After the Chargers scored their only touchdown to cut the deficit to 17-10, they recovered a fumble on the kickoff. Five plays later it was fourth down at the 1, but Tomlinson’s plunge over left guard was stopped for no gain, with Vonnie Holliday and Channing Crowder leading the defensive charge.

Gonzalez sets yardage record

Kansas City’s Tony Gonzalez broke the NFL’s career mark for yards receiving by a tight end, but finished with just three catches for 17 yards in a 34-0 loss to the Carolina at Charlotte, N.C.

Gonzalez entered the game 3 yards shy of Shannon Sharpe’s five-year-old record of 10,060 yards. He surpassed the mark on Kansas City’s second offensive series by catching a 6-yard pass from Damon Huard late in the first quarter.