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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Monday night usually belongs to the San
Francisco 49ers, even these not-so-awesome 49ers, even with Steve
Young knocked woozy just before halftime.
San Francisco shined in prime time again.
These might not be the 49ers of old, but they were good enough
for a 24-10 victory over the young Arizona Cardinals on Monday
night.
|  | | San Francisco quarterback Steve Young goes airborne after taking a hit from a Cardinals defender.
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"We took a step forward," coach Steve Mariucci said. "We beat
a playoff team on the road."
Lawrence Phillips' 68-yard touchdown run with 1:42 left in the
fourth quarter added the exclamation point to Mariucci's seventh
victory in as many tries on Monday nights.
"I didn't get touched," Phillips said. "Anybody could have scored."
Young staked San Francisco (2-1) to a 17-0 lead before being
knocked out of the game with a mild concussion with 28 seconds left
in the first half.
Jake Plummer, the quarterback San Francisco passed up in the
1997 draft, has rallied Arizona to victory 10 times in his 29 games
with the Cardinals. But this one fell short.
Young threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Rice before he was
knocked out of the game by the blitzing Cardinals, the 85th time
the two combined on a scoring pass.
Young thought he could have gone back in the game.
"I was shocked," Young said of the hit he took. "At first, I
didn't know what happened. I hear boxers talk about 'the flash.' I
sat for a second, got my wits, and actually felt pretty good."
But after talking to team doctors, Mariucci decided not to play
Young in the second half.
Arizona (1-2) rallied with 10 points in the third quarter, but
Chad Stanley's 49-yard punt pinned the Cardinals on their own
3-yard line with 9:17 to play. Arizona moved the ball down the
field, but Adrian Murrell lost 6 yards, then Plummer was sacked for
the fifth time and the Cardinals chose to punt on fourth-and-11 at
the San Francisco 40 with just over 2½ minutes to play.
"It was fourth-and-11 and we'd been playing very well
defensively," Arizona coach Vince Tobin said. "They had their
quarterback in there. We felt if we pinned them back, we'd get the
ball back with two minutes or so to go."
But instead, the 49ers got a first down, then Phillips broke
free for the biggest play of his troubled brief NFL career.
Phillips, given a chance by the 49ers after a big season in NFL
Europe, burst through the line and raced to the end zone for the
game-clincher with 1:42 to play. Phillips finished with 102 yards on nine carries.
Young, sacked five times and knocked down 16 more in last week's
28-21 victory over New Orleans, was hit by Aeneas Williams and J.J.
McCleskey as he let go of a pass. His head hit the knee of an
offensive lineman as he fell to the turf.
Young lay motionless for a moment before he slowly got to his
feet and walked off the field.
"He wanted to come back," Rice said of Young, 13-of-23 for 92
yards. "He's a warrior. He'll be there next Sunday."
Jeff Garcia, who led Calgary to the Grey Cup in the Canadian
Football League last season, replaced Young, and though he wasn't
spectacular, he was good enough until Phillips finished things off.
"Jeff did a good job and our defense did their job of giving us
a chance to run time off the clock," Rice said.
Garcia was 5-of-6 for 30 yards.
The Cardinals took the second-half kickoff and went 80 yards in
11 plays in a 5-minute, 15-second drive that ended with Mario Bates
leaping over from the 1 to make it 17-7 with 9:45 left in the third
quarter.
Murrell gained 50 yards in six carries on the drive. Chris
Jacke's 43-yard field goal made it 17-10 with 1:09 left in the
third quarter, and the packed house at Sun Devils Stadium went
wild.
Plummer was 16-of-31 for 176 yards and two interceptions.
Turnovers ruined what was only the third Monday night game for
Arizona since the Cardinals moved from St. Louis in 1988 as the
49ers scored twice in 54 seconds.
"I think it kind of overwhelmed us," said Cardinals' defensive
end Simeon Rice, one of many Arizona players appearing in his first
Monday night game. "These are virgin grounds for us. We just
didn't do what we needed to do in this spectacle of an event."
Rookie David Boston muffed Stanley's punt and Joe Zelenka of the
49ers recovered at the Cardinals' 37 to set up Rice's first
touchdown catch of the year.
Two plays later, Plummer threw his eighth interception of the
season. The pass, intended for Rob Moore, was knocked away byDarnell Walker into the hands of Lance Schulters, who returned it 18 yards to Arizona's 11.
Charlie Garner, carrying a couple of would-be tacklers with him,
scored on the next play to make it 14-0 with 5:41 left in the first
quarter.
Moore aggravated a sore hamstring in the first quarter and did
not play again.
Wade Richey's 33-yard field goal made it 17-0 with 9:01 left in
the half.
Arizona threatened late in the second quarter, but with
first-and-goal at the 6, Plummer completed a short pass to Frank
Sanders, who fumbled at the goal line. Tim McDonald of the 49ers
recovered just inside the end zone for a touchback.
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ALSO SEE
NFL Scoreboard
San Francisco Clubhouse
Arizona Clubhouse
Latest concussion will sideline Young at least a week
NFL Week 3 wrap-ups
Week 3 infirmary report
TJ's Take: Titanic development
Week 3 PrimeTime Players
Week 3 stats leaders
AUDIO/VIDEO
 QB Steve Young talks about his concussion Monday night.
wav: 192 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Coach Steve Mariucci gives us the lowdown on Young's status.
wav: 183 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Jerry Rice talks about the 49ers' performance.
wav: 183 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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