Nobody’s perfect. Not even the best of the best to ever play the game. And when you have good on good, either side is going to experience more adversity than it’s used to seeing. That’s what former Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Rod Woodson recalls of the time he played against a fellow yellow jacket, former San Francisco 49ers WR Jerry Rice.
It came during a game between the two teams in the 1993 season, which the Steelers lost. And Woodson lost a crucial rep in the game against Rice. But OLB Greg Lloyd saved his bacon, and a likely touchdown in the process.
“He got on top of me the one time and Greg Lloyd made him step up and Steve Young threw it and threw a little short and I caught a one-handed interception, but that’s the only time”, he recently recalled during an appearance on the All Things Covered podcast with Bryant McFadden and Patrick Peterson. “If he threw it out there, he might’ve had me”.
You can watch the clip yourself and see that Woodson’s memory is pretty spot on. 49ers QB Steve Young rolled out to his left on what appeared to be a designed quick release, but the left tackle didn’t occupy Lloyd long enough, forcing an errant throw that the CB was able to pick off. Young also got clobbered after he threw by Kevin Greene rushing off the left edge.
Had Young been able to get off a cleaner pass, it’s quite likely he would have gotten the ball off over the top of Woodson and into the waiting arms of Rice, who was behind the defense, FS Darren Perry also trailing on the play.
That was in the season opener, a game in which Young threw three interceptions, two of which Woodson nabbed. But he also threw three touchdowns, two to Rice, who caught eight passes on the day for 78 yards. D.J. Johnson was the closest man in coverage on both of Rice’s scores, by the way.
That was a pretty good year overall for the great one, catching 98 passes for 1,503 yards and 15 touchdowns and making the first-team All-Pro list, though the 49ers would fall to the Dallas Cowboys in the conference finals that year.
“Everybody says he wasn’t fast, but when that ball went in the air…I don’t know how he did it, but he did it”, Woodson said of playing against Rice. “I knew I had to be at the top of my game, and in my head I had to say, ‘No seams, no post, no goes. If I let him on top of me, he’s gonna embarrass me. I ain’t gonna let him embarrass me’”.
Woodson joined Rice on the first-team All-Pro list that year, intercepting eight passes and returning one for a score, in addition to 95 tackles and two forced fumbles. Oh, he also won the Defensive Player of the Year Award. The Steelers, on the other hand, only went 9-7 and exited the playoffs in the first round with an overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
