San Francisco at Atlanta


Game Day Preview: 49ers at Falcons

ATLANTA -- Jerry Rice is fighting another knee injury. He's also fighting a growing sense of frustration.

"It's hard," said the 49ers wide receiver, who expects to play in Saturday's divisional playoff at Atlanta despite lingering soreness from a partially torn posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

	Jerry Rice prepares to return to Atlanta, where he injured his knee on Nov. 15.

"It's been a very, very trying season for me. There's nothing I can do. You say to yourself, 'Why is this happening?' Because, this is the type of year I really love. We're in the playoffs, where I can just go out there and have a good time, but it's been different this year."

The 36-year-old Rice, the NFL's career leader in touchdowns, receptions and yards receiving, missed virtually all of last season when he blew out his left knee in the opener and then cracked the kneecap in his first game back 3½ months later.

Rice earned his 12th trip to the Pro Bowl this season, finishing with a team-high 82 catches. But he's struggled in the last seven weeks since banging his right knee on the Georgia Dome's artificial turf Nov. 15 and causing the latest injury.

"I feel like I've been in rehab for a year and a half," Rice complained. The partial tear won't heal completely until he has a chance to rest it after San Francisco's season ends.

"I have never endured anything like this," said Rice, who never missed a game due to injury in his first 12 seasons. "It's strange, but you try to justify it. You say to yourself, `You're not 100 percent. You're banged up.' But still, that fire inside, you want to go out there and you want to really help the team so it's been very frustrating. I've just got to work through it."

Steve Young, who set an NFL record with Rice when the two teamed up for their 80th touchdown Nov. 1 at Green Bay, said Rice has set such high standards that it's hard to live up to them while he's playing hurt.

"His good knee now is the bad knee from last year," Young said. "I think he's really done remarkably well, the catches and yards and everything, with what he's struggled with.

"I can't wait for him to get healthy and I'm sure he can't either because he's still capable of being a dynamic, dominant player."

Rice's frustrations were epitomized last week against Green Bay. He couldn't shake free from coverage and was nearly shut out, making one catch on the last drive.

Replays showed he fumbled, though officials ruled him down. Four plays later, Young finished the drive in dramatic fashion, throwing 25 yards for a touchdown to Terrell Owens with three seconds left to beat the Packers in the NFC wild card game.

Rice at times has fumed publicly about his diminished work load and this week had a loud, bitter locker-room exchange with a San Francisco columnist who wrote that Rice should be phased out by the 49ers so they would have a better chance to keep the younger Owens and J.J. Stokes.

Owens and Stokes, who both can become free agents after this season, have increasingly drawn a greater load of the receiving chores due to Rice's knee ailment, which has forced him to miss parts of practice this week.

"Just say I'm dealing with it," Rice said. "I'm trying to rest and be smart about this, but I'll be there Saturday. I'm going to line up. Basically, if I am on the football field, I believe I can help this team win."

But in recent weeks, that's been primarily as a decoy, drawing defensive coverage away from Owens, Stokes and others.

"They keep doubling me," Rice said. "But when I'm out there running around on a football field, somehow I can block things out, even the pain, and try to get the job done, so I'm hoping for the same thing this weekend."