Week #12
Sunday, Dec.02, at 3COM Park, 5:30pm PDT
vs
35
  
0
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens (81) scores a touchdown in front of Buffalo Bills cornerback Antoine Winfield (26) during the third quarter in San Francisco, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2001. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The San Francisco 49ers finally looked every bit as good as their record.

Garrison Hearst rushed for 124 yards and a touchdown, and Ahmed Plummer had two of San Francisco's four interceptions to lead the 49ers to their first shutout of the season in a 35-0 victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night.

During their implausible run to a tie for the NFL's best record at 9-2, the 49ers specialized in escaping from trouble. They've already matched an NFL record with four overtime games, and they had only one win by more than 10 points.

But against woeful Buffalo (1-10) on a typically blustery night on Candlestick Point, the young 49ers pounded the Bills with mature, dominant performances on both sides of the ball.

It was the 49ers' biggest win since a 45-10 victory at Washington on Sept. 20, 1998.

Despite taking his share of hits from the Bills' defense, Jeff Garcia had another outstanding game. He was 19-of-27 for 189 yards and two TDs, completing his first nine passes before hitting Tai Streets for his first career TD and Terrell Owens for his league-leading 13th score of the season.

J.J. Stokes, a forgotten man on San Francisco's offense for much of the season, had eight catches for 68 yards. Hearst had another steady game, while fullback Fred Beasley scored his first TD of the season.

Even Paul Smith, the 49ers' fourth-string running back, got his first NFL touchdown with 3:08 remaining after the Bills' fourth turnover.

Plummer, the rising star at cornerback on the 49ers' young defense, made a team-best seven tackles and picked off two passes by Alex Van Pelt. The Bills' quarterback was 21-of-38 for 168 yards and four interceptions, a real turnaround after back-to-back 300-yard passing games.

The Bills did very little right in their sixth straight loss, though much of their ineffectiveness could be attributed to the 49ers' fired-up defense.

Larry Centers got his 750th career reception, but he also was Buffalo's leading rusher with 14 yards; Eric Moulds had seven catches for 55 yards, but the 49ers limited his effectiveness.

San Francisco's defense set up the 49ers' second TD midway through the second quarter. As Lance Schulters leveled Van Pelt on a safety blitz, Plummer stepped in front of Moulds and tipped the ball out of the receiver's hands to himself for an exceptional interception.

Three plays later, Garcia took his third straight hard hit, but he delivered a 23-yard TD pass to Streets.

Owens scored on a 17-yard TD pass late in the third quarter, capping a 68-yard drive.

Both teams had kicking problems. Shayne Graham, the Bills' latest choice to solve their kicking woes, badly missed a 49-yard attempt at the halftime gun. San Francisco's Jose Cortez missed a short field goal, had another blocked and shanked a kickoff.



 
FINAL
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Total
Buffalo
0
0
0
0
00
San Francisco
0
14
7
14
35

 
SCORING SUMMARY BUF SFO
1st Quarter
    No Score.
0
0
2nd Quarter
SFO TD Garrison Hearst (SFO) rushed left side for a 1 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
0
7
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass across the middle complete to Tai Streets (SFO) for a 23 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
0
14
3rd Quarter
SFO TD Jeff Garcia (SFO) pass across the middle complete to Terrell Owens (SFO) for a 17 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
0
21
4th Quarter
SFO TD Fred Beasley (SFO) rushed up the middle for a 3 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
0
28
SFO TD Paul Smith (SFO) rushed right side for a 13 yard touchdown. Extra point by Jose Cortez (SFO) is good.
0
35

 
 
TEAM STATISTICS BUF SFO
FIRST DOWNS 10 26
Passing 8 12
Rushing 2 13
Penalty 0 1
 
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-6 10-15
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 2-4 0-2
 
TOTAL NET YARDS 197 405
Total plays 49 71
Average gain 4.0 5.7
 
NET YARDS RUSHING 29 224
Rushes 11 42
Average per rush 2.6 5.3
 
NET YARDS PASSING 168 181
Completion-attempted 21-38 19-27
Yards per pass 4.4 6.7
Sacked-yards lost 2-6 2-11
Had intercepted 4 0
 
PUNTS-AVERAGE 3-48.7 1-47.0
 
RETURN-YARDAGE 68 78
Punts-returns 0-0 1-5
Kickoffs-returns 4-68 1-24
Interceptions-returns 0-0 4-49
 
PENALTIES-YARDS 4-29 1-10
FUMBLES-LOST 1-1 0-0
    
    
    
Passing
BILLS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Alex Van Pelt 21 38 168 55.3 4.42 2 6 0 4
49ERS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Jeff Garcia 19 27 189 70.4 7.00 2 10 2 0

Rushing
BILLS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Larry Centers 3 14 4.7 12 0 0
Travis Henry 6 9 1.5 9 0 0
Sammy Morris 2 6 3.0 5 0 0
49ERS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Garrison Hearst 25 124 5.0 13 1 0
Terry Jackson 5 37 7.4 12 0 0
Paul Smith 4 27 6.8 13 1 0
Jeff Garcia 4 18 4.5 5 0 0
Vinny Sutherland 1 16 16.0 16 0 0
Fred Beasley 4 8 2.0 3 1 0

Receiving
BILLS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Larry Centers 6 56 9.3 12 0 0
Eric Moulds 7 55 7.9 13 0 0
Avion Black 1 16 16.0 16 0 0
Peerless Price 3 15 5.0 8 0 0
Reggie Germany 1 14 14.0 14 0 0
Jay Riemersma 1 8 8.0 8 0 0
Travis Henry 2 4 2.0 2 0 0
49ERS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Terrell Owens 6 72 12.0 17 1 0
J.J. Stokes 8 68 8.5 17 0 0
Tai Streets 2 34 17.0 23 1 0
Garrison Hearst 2 18 9.0 12 0 0
Eric Johnson 1 -3 -3.0 -3 0 0

Kicking
BILLS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Shayne Graham 1 0 0.0 -- 0 0 0.0 0
49ERS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jose Cortez 1 0 0.0 -- 5 5 100.0 5

Punting
BILLS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TOUCHBACKS
Brian Moorman 4 47.2 -- -- -- --
49ERS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TOUCHBACKS
Jason Baker 1 47.0 -- -- -- --

Kick/Punt Returns
BILLS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Chris Watson 4 66 16.5 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
Avion Black 1 19 19.0 -- -- 0 0 0.0 -- --
49ERS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Vinny Sutherland 1 24 24.0 -- -- 2 6 3.0 -- --

Defense
BILLS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS INT/TD
Keith Newman 9 7 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Nate Clements 8 7 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Antoine Winfield 7 7 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Shawn Price 6 5 1 1.0 4 0 0 -- --
Travares Tillman 5 5 0 0.0 0 1 0 -- --
Bryce Fisher 4 3 1 0.5 3 0 0 -- --
Keion Carpenter 4 3 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Brandon Spoon 4 4 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Phil Hansen 3 2 1 0.5 3 0 0 -- --
Pierson Prioleau 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jay Foreman 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Aaron Schobel 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Pat Williams 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Chris Watson 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Raion Hill 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ken Irvin 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Lance Brown 1 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Kenyatta Wright 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Tyrone Robertson 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
49ERS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS INT/TD
Ahmed Plummer 7 7 0 0.0 0 0 2 -- --
Rashad Holman 6 5 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Derek Smith 4 2 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jeff Ulbrich 4 2 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
George McCullough 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Julian Peterson 3 3 0 1.0 6 0 0 -- --
Jamie Winborn 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Dana Stubblefield 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Chike Okeafor 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
John Engelberger 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Lance Schulters 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Bryant Young 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Zack Bronson 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Reggie McGrew 1 1 0 1.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jason Webster 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --

....