CBS SportsLine wire reports
Aug. 26, 1998

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- It's been an incredible run for Jerry Rice, one that took an agonizing turn over the last year.

Rice

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was at the pinnacle of his career as the best receiver pro football has seen when two stunning injuries to the same knee little more than three months apart threatened his livelihood. Now, even Rice wonders whether he'll ever be the same.

It's a challenge he can't resist.

"I feel like I was at the peak of my game and to have that taken away overnight, that's extra incentive to get back," Rice said.

"What drives me? The love of the game. The love, man. Going out there, knowing that teams have practices all week long to stop you and somehow, you can still find a way to get the job done. I'm just looking forward to the opportunity of just getting back on the field and having fun."

THE FUN, AS RICE PUTS IT, will have to wait until Sept. 6. That's when he, along with the rest of the NFL world, will get a chance to see just how far he's come -- and perhaps how far he has to go.

He's scheduled to return in the San Francisco 49ers' regular season opener against the New York Jets.

"You know, I had been healthy for so many years, you never think about something like this happening," Rice said quietly as he sat at a training table between practices at the 49ers' Santa Clara headquarters. "You feel like you get into a groove. You feel like you may be invincible."

You couldn't blame Rice for feeling indestructible. He had defied the odds in a violent game, going his first 12 years in the league without a major injury. He seemingly was setting or adding to one record or another with every catch and every game.

Then, disaster struck the 11-time Pro Bowler and all-time leader in touchdowns, receptions and yards receiving.

While running a reverse in San Francisco's season-opening loss at Tampa Bay last Aug. 31, Rice was yanked to the ground by his facemask by Warren Sapp. Rice had just planted his left foot and the force of being pulled down caused the interior of his left knee to explode, shredding the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments and damaging cartilage.

HE UNDERWENT RECONSTRUCTIVE surgery the next day and was expected to miss 4-6 months. But after a furious rehabilitation, Rice came back to play Dec. 15 against Denver -- only to crack his left kneecap when he fell after catching a touchdown pass. That finished him for the season, forced him to undergo two more operations to insert and later remove screws from the kneecap, and sent him on another three-month round of rehabilitation.

"It feels just like a nightmare, like it's never going to end," Rice said. "I had worked so hard to get back for that Monday night game and I felt like I was back. For me to hurt myself all over again, it was devastating.

"I'm still trying to grind my way through it. I've been out of football for a year now, but the fire is still burning. I'm anxious to show I can still get the job done."

His comeback won't be complete, he said, until he makes it all the way through a game, something he couldn't do the last two times he tried.

"I feel like my knee is strong enough, but in my mind, I still have one situation I have to face, and that's taking a blow and being able to jump up and go back to the huddle. Everything else is there. I feel explosive going to the ball and I've got a good burst when I catch the ball. It's just taking that blow. I know guys will be coming after me. They're going to be going down low. If I can take that, I'll have overcome a big obstacle."

The 49ers, wary of the possibility of reinjury and perhaps sensitive to criticism of allowing Rice to make his initial return so early, are holding the receiver out of all five preseason games.

"I DON'T REGRET the decision and neither does he, but we all felt bad when Jerry got hurt again," coach Steve Mariucci said. "It just wasn't in the cards.

"Hopefully, this year it is, because we all want him back in there. He does, I do, the doctors do, the team does, the fans do, the whole NFL world wants to see Jerry Rice back and doing well."

Rice's return promises an even more explosive offense for the 49ers, and Mariucci plans more three-wide-receiver sets to get J.J. Stokes and Terrell Owens, the young wideouts who blossomed in Rice's absence last year, on the field with Rice at the same time.

"It's like a dream," Rice said. ``The way J.J. and Terrell can go out there and make plays, it's going to take a lot of pressure off me. I think we're going to complement each other."

Said Mariucci: "It keeps me up at night, I'm so excited about it."

But Rice's return has been a measured, deliberate process. He was worked into contact drills gradually during the team's month-long training camp at Stockton and is now practicing with virtually no restrictions. Though he has been banged around a bit, defensive backs are not allowed to lay a direct hit on him, or any other 49ers receiver for that matter, during practice.

QUARTERBACK STEVE YOUNG said he's seen enough to be encouraged.

"I suspect everything is going to be just fine," said Young, who with Rice has formed one of the most prolific touchdown tandems in league history. "I think Jerry Rice is going to have one of his more productive years. First of all, his knee seems to be healthy. It's not like he's dragging it around, trying to prove something."

Rice, who turns 36 in October, said he has worked so hard on rehabilitation and conditioning that his reconstructed knee is probably stronger than the other one.

Yet, his biggest concerns heading into the season are his ability to stand up to the pounding, and whether he'll be able to once again strike fear in defenses as one of the league's foremost playmakers. He said he won't play beyond this season if he feels his skills have eroded.

"I'm very concerned about that," he said. ``It's a big difference between practice and playing in a football game. I have a pretty good idea of what I can do and hopefully I can still be at the level before I sustained the injury.