S.F., Pittsburgh Turn Defensive Young, Rice Help 49ers Put Eagles On Ice

For all they have in common, the major differences in the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles were obvious Sunday. The 49ers had Steve Young, Jerry Rice and an overpowering defense. The Eagles didn’t.

Sharing the same offensive scheme and plenty of player and coaching links, the 49ers and Eagles met on a soupy field in the NFL playoffs. San Francisco won 14-0 in an NFC wild-card game.

“It’s good to win on the swampy tundra of Candlestick,” San Francisco coach George Seifert said.

Young, who bruised his ribs while shedding tacklers on a 9-yard scoring run, kept playing and added a scoring pass to Rice. San Francisco’s defense also shut down the Eagles’ version of the 49ers’ attack as Philadelphia failed to score for the first time in a postseason game.

“He took a shot on the ribs, but he was able to play. We’ll just have to see how he is,” Seifert said of Young, described as questionable for next Saturday’s game at Green Bay.

“We played very effective mud football today,” Young said. “I don’t care about what the stats say, we played an effective ballgame. The defense comes up with some big plays and we go home with a 14-0 win.”

The 49ers (13-4) get a rematch of last year’s divisional playoff, won by the Packers 27-17.

“We just have something to prove to ourselves,” Rice said. “We want to go in as a team and somehow win. We feel like our chances are good.”

The Eagles, coached by former 49ers defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes and with six ex-San Francisco players on their roster, lost quarterback Ty Detmer to a hamstring injury after he was sacked by Bryant Young midway through the third quarter.

Mark Rypien replaced Detmer, who had moved the Eagles up and down the field, but twice threw interceptions at the goal line.

“They know us and we were very familiar with them. But a couple of plays made the difference,” Philadelphia tight end Jimmie Johnson said. “It’s very unfortunate. We were able to move the ball up and down the field at will and not come away with any points. You can’t go down there in the playoffs and blunder and not come away with any points.”

Rhodes said the Eagles couldn’t overcome the mistakes they made deep in San Francisco territory.

“This was not a good game for Ty and I think everyone knows that,” he said. “The turnovers in the red area, you can’t do that. You can’t leave that area without any points.”

Up 7-0, San Francisco scored again on a 3-yard pass from Young to Rice with 4:47 left in the third quarter. Rice set up the TD with an amazing one-handed catch, hauling in Young’s throw as he sprinted across the middle of the field for a 36-yard gain to the Eagles 3.

“Sometimes you throw your hands up in the air and the ball is there,” Rice said. “We did enough to win it.”

The Eagles, shut out for the first time since a 23-0 regular-season loss at Washington on Sept. 30, 1991, advanced beyond the San Francisco 20 three times in the first half. They came away empty each time, with Detmer twice turning the ball over on interceptions. Another scoring chance was erased on a missed field goal.

In blanking the Eagles (10-7), San Francisco rung up its first shutout since a 26-0 win over Chicago in the 1989 regular-season finale.

Watters, who led the 49ers in rushing three straight years before going to Philadelphia two years ago, never broke loose in the slop, gaining 57 yards on 20 carries.

Young sloshed his way to 67 yards rushing, making key gains on scrambles. He hit on 14 of 21 passes, as did Detmer.

49ers 14, Eagles 0

Philadelphia 0 0 0 0 0

San Francisco 0 7 7 0 - 14

SF-S.Young 9 run (Wilkins kick) SF-Rice 3 pass from S.Young (Wilkins kick) A-56,460.

Phi SF First downs 16 17 Rushes-yards 26-71 34-118 Passing 212 161 Punt Returns 3-17 2-10 Kickoff Returns 2-48 1-11 Interceptions Ret. 0-0 3-6 Comp-Att-Int 19-33-3 14-21-0 Sacked-Yards Lost 3-13 1-0 Punts 5-35.8 6-37.2 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0 Penalties-Yards 3-20 4-38 Time of Possession 30:15 29:45 Individual statistics RUSHINGPhiladelphia, Watters 20-57, Garner 3-10, Turner 3-4. San Francisco, S.Young 11-65, Kirby 16-43, Floyd 5-13, Lavelle 2-(minus 3).

PASSINGPhiladelphia, Detmer 14-21-2-148, Rypien 5-12-1-77. San Francisco, S.Young 14-21-0-161.

RECEIVINGPhiladelphia, Fryar 5-62, Watters 5-45, Johnson 3-37, Williams 2-40, Jones 2-23, Turner 2-18. San Francisco, Rice 4-50, Floyd 4-41, Kirby 2-24, Jones 2-22, Cooper 1-17, Owens 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALSPhiladelphia, Anderson 40 (WL).