Sports
B8 Monday, December 7, 2020 — DAILY REPUBLIC
49ers: Game belongs in time capsule From Page B1 always have a chance with Montana as their QB. Against the Saints, Montana, after halftime, directed four touchdown drives of 78 yards or longer, ran for a touchdown, threw for two scores and had 259 of his 285 passing yards. The comeback was launched, fittingly, by the two players who would combine for The Catch just 13 months and three days later: Montana threw a 48-yard completion to Dwight Clark on the first play of the second half. “That game was the turning point, I believe, of the franchise,” safety Dwight Hicks said. “. . . We went down 35-7 at halftime and, with Joe Montana, things changed a wee bit.” However, Joe Cool and Walsh, The Genius, wouldn’t have won without help from a team whose ineptitude also inspired a nickname: The Aints. It’s been largely lost to history, but the game belongs in a time capsule not only for showcasing greatness in its embryonic stages. It also featured ineptitude at its height. The 1980 Saints are one of only five teams in NFL history to lose their first 14 games – a feat they accomplished by blowing a four-touchdown lead thanks to a flood of secondhalf miscues – and they are the first to inspire fans to wear bags over their head. They finished 1-15, allowed the seventh-most points (487) in league history, had three first downs in a 40-7 loss to the Cardinals in Week 5 and arrived at Candlestick two weeks after firing head coach Dick Nolan (the 49ers’ head coach from 1968-75) and replacing him with interim Dick Stanfel. On Stanfel’s first day in his new role, there was a fist fight in practice between defensive linemen Don
‘That game was the turning point, I believe, of the franchise. . . . We went down 35-7 at halftime and, with Joe Montana, things changed a wee bit.’ — Dwight Hicks, safety
Reese and Derland Moore that resulted in Reese’s season-ending suspension. About a month before they faced the 49ers, a colorful New Orleans media personality, Buddy Diliberto, wore a bag over his head during his nightly broadcast to honor the winless Saints and pledged to wear it every week until they won. Many fans joined him and the nation was introduced to the Bagheads when they dotted the Louisiana Superdome for a 27-7 loss to the Rams in Week 12 on Monday Night Football. Two weeks later, however, the Saints, who did have a competent quarterback in Archie Manning, resembled an entirely different crew at Candlestick. New Orleans scored three touchdowns before the 49ers managed a first down and the halftime statistics were comically one-sided: The Saints led in first downs (20-2) and total yards (324-21). On the CBS broadcast, analyst Jim Hill said it was “unbelievable” how a winless team was walloping its opponent. “They are taking it to (the 49ers) the way people have taken it to them for the past 13 weeks,” Hill said. What happened? Guard Randy Cross said the 49ers took the Saints too lightly. “What was the halftime score?” Cross said after the game. “What do you think? I’ve never seen us so flat.” Said offensive tackle Ron Singleton: “Looking at their films, they look like they self-destruct every week. We came
out thinking we were just going to line up and do it to them. Offensively, we got surprised. And defensively, they just took us. We got surprised.” However, the 49ers, who finished 6-10, had issues beyond overconfidence. Manning threw for 377 yards, then a franchise record, and three touchdowns against a secondary that featured Hicks and a host of forgotten players. The group would inspire the 49ers to use three of their first four draft picks in 1981 on defensive backs – Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright and Carlton Williamson. They would become known as Dwight Hicks and The Hot Licks. In 1980 against the Saints, however, it was Dwight Hicks and The Who’s He’s: His teammates included Charles Cornelius, Charles Johnson and Gerard Williams. “We had a revolving door,” Hicks said. “I mean, every week there was somebody new in the secondary.” The secondary didn’t change in the second half, but the Saints did. That is, they reverted to their 0-13 form. It’s true the biggest comeback in regular-season history had plenty to do with Montana, Clark (six catches, 155 yards, TD) and running back Lenvil Elliott, who had 111 of his career-high 125 rushing yards after halftime. But the Saints were outscored 31-0 in the final two quarters and overtime because, on cue, they self-destructed. Tight end Henry Childs
had a 30-yard, thirdquarter catch on which he lost a fumble at the 49ers’ 13-yard line. On their next drive, running back Jimmy Rogers lost a fumble at the 49ers’ 19. On their next drive, they faced a 4th-and-4 at the 49ers’ 28-yard line and Stanfel, whose offense gained a franchise-record 519 yards, called for a punt that bounced into the end zone for a touchback. The key play in overtime? It wasn’t a pass by Montana or a run by Elliott, but a personal-foul penalty against the Saints. Rookie defensive tackle Steve Parker drilled Elliott out of bounds after a 1-yard run on 3rd-and-9 from the 49ers’ 38-yard line to extend the drive that ended with Ray Wersching’s 36-yard field goal. CBS cameras twice captured Stanfel smoking a cigarette on the sideline, a bad habit possibly exacerbated by the bad team he was overseeing. “Once you get into that losing syndrome,” Singleton said of the Saints’ meltdown after the game, “you start doing that.” And Montana and the 49ers would do more of the same in the decade that followed. They won four Super Bowls over the next 10 seasons, games in which Montana threw 11 touchdowns and no interceptions. Forty years ago, though, no one fully appreciated what had happened after the unexpectedly historic game in a halffilled stadium. Saints safety Tom Myers said the loss was more galling than a 1979 defeat in which New Orleans blew a 21-point lead to the Raiders, who won the Super Bowl after the 1980 season. “It was worse,” Myers explained, “because that wasn’t (quarterback) Kenny Stabler the Oakland and Raiders out there.”
Mullen jumped a pass route from Darnold to Perriman for an interception that set up the Raiders’ lead score, a 38-yard touchdown from Carr to Waller. It put the Raiders up 17-13 with 1:12 left in the half. Waller, who last had a 100-yard receiving game in Week 2, had eight catches for 123 yards in the half. The score came on a simple hitch play where Waller spun out of a tackle and ran down the right sideline for the score. Ferrell’s strip sack: Defensive end Clelin Ferrell had a strip sack of Darnold which was recovered by Johnathan Hankins at the Jets’ 31-yard line. The Raiders gained exactly one yard before Carlson kicked a 48-yard field goal to make it 13-10 with 6:07 left in the half. Two’s a Crowder:
NFL scores Sunday’s Games Cleveland 41, Tennessee 35 Las Vegas 31, N.Y. Jets 28 Minnesota 27, Jacksonville 24 Miami 19, Cincinnati 7 Indianapolis 26, Houston 20 Detroit 34, Chicago 30 New Orleans 21, Atlanta 16 N.Y. Giants 17, Seattle 12 L.A. Rams 38, Arizona 28 New England 45, L.A. Chargers 0 Green Bay 30, Philadelphia 16 Kansas City 22, Denver 16 Monday’s Games Buffalo vs. SAN FRANCISCO, at Arizona, 5:15 p.m. Washington at Pittsburgh, 2 p.m. Tuesday’s Game Dallas at Baltimore, 5:05 p.m. Byes — Tampa Bay, Carolina
The Jets countered the Raiders’ first score with a 69-yard, seven-play drive with Darnold hitting Crowder for six yards and the touchdown with 12:02 left in the half. Josh Adams gashed the Raiders defense with a 25-yard run on the drive, with Erik Harris missing a tackle. Sergio Castillo missed the extra point for the Jets. Lamarcus Joyner left
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came on a 3-yard scoring pass to Crowder. Darnold had completions of 22 yards to Breshad Perriman and 17 yards to Denzel Mims. The Raiders first offensive possession resulted in an interception when a high Carr pass glanced off the hands of Ruggs and went directly to Arthur Maulet. Maulet ran the interception back 20 yards but the Raiders’ defense forced a three-and-out. Mariota suits up: Marcus Mariota, signed in the off-season to a twoyear contract that pays him $7.5 million in salary and counts $9 million against the salary cap, was active for the first time in front of Nathan Peterman as Carr’s backup. Mariota has been inactive as the No. 3 quarterback for the past five games after coming off injured reserve following a pectoral injury.
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Basketball College men •Northern Arizona at Arizona, PAC12, 6 p.m. College women •Florida Atlantic at Florida, SEC, 5 p.m. Football NFL •Washington at Pittsburgh, Chs. 2, 40 (KTXL), 2 p.m. •Buffalo vs. San Francisco at Arizona, ESPN, 5:15 p.m. Soccer •Premier League, Brighton vs. Southampton, NBCSN, 11 a.m. •MLS Playoffs, Western Conference finals, Seattle vs. Minnesota United, FS1, 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday’s TV sports Basketball College men •Creighton at Kansas, ESPN, 2 p.m. •Purdue at Miami, ESPN2, 2 p.m. •Wagner at Seton Hall, FS1, 2 p.m. •Idaho State at Utah, PAC12, 3 p.m. •Coppin State at Georgetown, FS1, 4 p.m. •Boston College at Minnesota, ESPNU, 4 p.m. •Rider at St. John’s, CBSSN, 4 p.m. •Montana at Georgia, SEC, 4 p.m. •Ohio State at Notre Dame, ESPN2, 4:30 p.m. •North Carolina at Iowa, ESPN2, 4:35 p.m. •Colorado State at Colorado, PAC12, 5 p.m. •Penn State at Virginia Tech, ESPNU, 6 p.m. •Green Bay at Marquette, FS1, 6 p.m. •Jackson State at Mississippi State, SEC, 6 p.m. •Illinois at Duke, ESPN, 6:30 p.m. •Syracuse at Rutgers, ESPN2, 6:30 p.m. •UC Irvine at USC, PAC12, 7 p.m. Football NFL •Dallas at Baltimore, Chs. 2, 40 (KTXL), NFL, Amazon, 5:05 p.m. Hockey College •Wisconsin at Michigan State, BIG TEN, 3 p.m. •Minnesota at Michigan, BIG TEN, 5:30 p.m. Soccer •UEFA Champions League, The Golazo Show, CBSSN, 11:54 a.m. •Copa Libertadores, quarterfinals, first leg, Club Libertad vs. Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras, BEIN, 4:30 p.m. •Copa Sudamericana, quarterfinals, first leg, Vélez vs. Universidad Católica, BEIN, 6:30 p.m. (taped) •CONCACAF League, play-in match, Marathon vs. Forge, FS2, 7 p.m. Surfing •World Surfing League, Championship Tour: Pipe Masters Day 1, FS2, 10 a.m.
things a little easier,” Paschall said. Roles are not set on the Warriors’ roster, but Paschall’s next adjustments are likely to be finding ways to contribute in fewer minutes than the 27.6 he averaged last year, and figuring out how to play alongside similarly built Draymond Green. “It’s not like I’ve never been in this role,” Paschall said. “I feel Villanova prepared me for any role possible. I’ve been the star, and I’ve just been a major piece of the team where I don’t get the ball as much. Whatever it is, mentally, I’m
ready to take on whatever role is given to me.” Paschall was notified of his All-Rookie honor as he played in a Madden video game tournament on Zoom. That didn’t stop childhood friend and Utah star Donovan Mitchell from calling and screaming. Paschall also talked to his father and texted with Green later that day. “That’s my guy,” Paschall said of Green. “Whatever he wants me to do, I’ll do it. He knows he can get on me, and I won’t take it personally. I know how competitive he is, so I think that playing with him would be great.”
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with a foot injury on the play preceding the touchdown and was replaced by Amik Robertson. Waller world: The Raiders tied the score 7-7 in the final moments of the first quarter on Carr’s 9-yard touchdown. The Jets were mystified in how to defend Waller at that point, as he caught seven passes for 79 yards in the quarter. The scoring drive covered 79 yards in seven plays, and also included a 28-yard pass to Ruggs, who had the ball glance off his hands for an interception on the Raiders’ opening possession. Ugly start: The Raiders lost cornerback Damon Arnette following a head-on collision on the first play, then proceeded to give up a 74-yard, 12-play drive for a touchdown. Darnold was 4 of 6 for 53 yards and the payoff
Monday’s TV sports
Warriors: Paschall
Raiders: Lost Arnette on first play From Page B1
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