Week #4
Sunday, Oct.07, at 3COM Park, 5:30pm PDT
vs
24
  
14
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens (81) scores his second touchdown of the game as he runs past Carolina Panthers' Deon Grant in the third quarter in San Francisco, Sunday, Oct. 7, 2001. (AP Photo/John Todd)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Nearly five years after George Seifert left town, the San Francisco 49ers finally got the best of him.

Terrell Owens caught two TD passes from Jeff Garcia as the 49ers beat their former coach for the first time in five tries, posting a 24-14 victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday night.

Seifert, who led the 49ers to two Super Bowl victories during eight seasons at the helm of his hometown team, had never lost to San Francisco since taking over at Carolina.

When Seifert resigned after the 1996 season, the 49ers' franchise quarterback and star receiver were Steve Young and Jerry Rice. In his third return to Candlestick Point, Seifert watched the 49ers' new dynamic duo play an outstanding game.

Owens had eight catches for 118 yards, while Garcia was 17-of-31 for 212 yards and also rushed for a score. Garrison Hearst, whose improbable comeback keeps gaining steam, rushed for 73 yards as San Francisco, which won just 10 games in the past two years, started its season 3-1 for the seventh time in eight seasons.

Rookie Chris Weinke had an inconsistent game for Carolina (1-3), completing 29 of 47 for 275 yards and a TD. He also threw three drive-killing interceptions, including one by 49ers cornerback Ahmed Plummer at the San Francisco 13 with 2:00 left.

Wesley Walls had 10 catches for 91 yards and a TD for Carolina.

Carolina went up 14-10 on Doug Evans' 39-yard interception return early in the second half. Garcia apparently miscommunicated with Owens, who turned upfield as Garcia lobbed a soft pass into an area that was unoccupied - except for Evans, who neatly sidestepped Garcia on his way to the end zone.

That was one of few problems between Owens and Garcia. San Francisco came right back with a scoring drive. Garcia found Owens over the middle, and he high-stepped his way to a 29-yard touchdown.

Later in the third, Garcia hit Owens with a perfectly thrown 20-yard fade for another score.

Carolina didn't mount a strong offensive drive until late in the penalty-filled game, but Plummer's diving interception, his second of the season, sealed the win.

For the second week, San Francisco mounted a strong rushing game despite a thin offensive line. Center Jeremy Newberry missed the game with an injury, while left tackle Derrick Deese was ejected late in the first half for fighting with Carolina third-string safety Jarrod Cooper.

Lance Schulters' interception late in the first quarter started the 49ers' first scoring drive, which ended in Garcia's 1-yard TD plunge.

Though Carolina's meager defensive statistics suggested an opportunity for San Francisco, the Panthers moved the ball much better than the 49ers in the first half. Carolina finally scored with a 10-play, 99-yard drive that ended in Walls' 10-yard TD catch 1:07 before halftime.

Jose Cortez, who hasn't missed in 10 field goal attempts, made a 40-yarder at the halftime gun.


 

 
FINAL
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Total
Carolina
0
7
7
0
14
San Francisco 49ers
0
10
14
0
24
..... 
 
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Quarter
  None.
2nd Quarter
SFO TD Jeff Garcia, 1 Yd run (Jose Cortez kick is good), 14:17. Drive: 8 plays, 67 yards in 3:46.
CAR TD Wesley Walls, 10 Yd pass from Chris Weinke (John Kasay kick is good), 01:07. Drive: 10 plays, 99 yards in 3:24.
SFO FG Jose Cortez 40 Yd, 00:00. Drive: 8 plays, 47 yards in 1:07.
3rd Quarter
CAR TD Doug Evans, 39 Yd interception return (John Kasay kick is good), 13:54
SFO TD Terrell Owens, 29 Yd pass from Jeff Garcia (Jose Cortez kick is good), 09:11. Drive: 8 plays, 67 yards in 4:43.
SFO TD Terrell Owens, 20 Yd pass from Jeff Garcia (Jose Cortez kick is good), 02:36. Drive: 8 plays, 80 yards in 3:28.
4th Quarter
  None.

 
TEAM STATISTICS
  CAR SFO
FIRST DOWNS 18 19
Passing 13 13
Rushing 2 5
Penalty 3 1
 
3RD-DOWN EFFICIENCY 4-12 5-10
4TH-DOWN EFFICIENCY 1-2 0-0
 
TOTAL NET YARDS 324 348
Total plays 60 66
Average gain 5.4 5.3
 
NET YARDS RUSHING 57 148
Rushes 16 34
Average per rush 3.6 4.4
 
NET YARDS PASSING 267 200
Completion-attempted 27-44 17-31
Yards per pass 6.1 6.5
Sacked-yards lost 0-0 1-9
Had intercepted 3 1
 
PUNTS-AVERAGE 5-47.0 6-38.3
 
RETURN-YARDAGE 139 124
Punts-returns 3-13 2-9
Kickoffs-returns 4-87 3-75
Interceptions-returns 1-39 3-31
 
PENALTIES-YARDS 9-103 9-70
FUMBLES-LOST 0-0 1-0
     
          
Passing
PANTHERS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Chris Weinke 29 47 275 61.7 5.85 1 0 1 3
49ERS CMP ATT YDS PCT YPA SACK SYDS TD INT
Jeff Garcia 17 31 212 54.8 6.84 1 9 2 1

Rushing
PANTHERS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Tim Biakabutuka 10 45 4.5 9 0 0
Brad Hoover 2 12 6.0 7 0 0
Richard Huntley 3 6 2.0 3 0 0
Isaac Byrd 1 -2 -2.0 -2 0 0
49ERS ATT YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Garrison Hearst 18 74 4.1 18 0 0
Kevan Barlow 11 32 2.9 7 0 0
Terry Jackson 3 24 8.0 12 0 0
Jeff Garcia 3 20 6.7 13 1 0

Receiving
PANTHERS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Wesley Walls 10 91 9.1 15 1 0
Muhsin Muhammad 8 62 7.8 17 0 0
Donald Hayes 1 39 39.0 39 0 0
Brad Hoover 4 25 6.2 13 0 0
Tim Biakabutuka 2 22 11.0 16 0 0
Isaac Byrd 2 19 9.5 10 0 0
Luther Broughton 1 13 13.0 13 0 0
Richard Huntley 1 4 4.0 4 0 0
49ERS REC YDS AVG LONG TD FUM
Terrell Owens 8 118 14.8 29 2 0
Terry Jackson 2 22 11.0 14 0 0
Garrison Hearst 1 18 18.0 18 0 0
Tai Streets 1 15 15.0 15 0 0
Fred Beasley 2 12 6.0 9 0 0
Justin Swift 1 12 12.0 12 0 0
Kevan Barlow 1 9 9.0 9 0 0
J.J. Stokes 1 6 6.0 6 0 0

Kicking
PANTHERS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
John Kasay 0 0 0.0 -- 2 2 100.0 2
49ERS FGA FGM PCT LNG XPA XPM PCT PTS
Jose Cortez 1 1 100.0 -- 3 3 100.0 6

Punting
PANTHERS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TB
Todd Sauerbrun 5 47.0 -- -- -- --
49ERS PUNTS AVG LONG BLOCKED IN 20 TB
Jason Baker 6 38.2 -- -- -- --

Kick/Punt Returns
PANTHERS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
Steve Smith 4 85 21.2 -- -- 3 13 4.3 -- --
49ERS KR YDS AVG LONG TD PR YDS AVG LONG TD
No Data Available.

Defense
PANTHERS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS TD
Dean Wells 10 6 4 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Lester Towns 9 6 3 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Doug Evans 7 5 2 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Mike Minter 5 4 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Kory Minor 5 4 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Chris Slade 4 3 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Larry Chester 4 3 1 0.0 0 1 0 -- --
Rashard Anderson 4 3 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Sean Gilbert 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jimmy Hitchcock 3 2 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Mike Rucker 3 1 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Deon Grant 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jay Williams 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jason Peter 2 1 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Damien Richardson 1 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Deveron Harper 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Kris Jenkins 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
49ERS TOT SOLO AST SCK YDS FF INT YDS TD
Jamie Winborn 12 8 4 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Jeff Ulbrich 9 5 4 1.0 0 1 0 -- --
Zack Bronson 8 6 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Lance Schulters 7 6 1 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Ahmed Plummer 6 3 3 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Jason Webster 6 6 0 0.0 0 0 1 -- --
Julian Peterson 5 3 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Ronnie Heard 5 3 2 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
John Engelberger 3 3 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Reggie McGrew 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --
Dana Stubblefield 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 -- --

....