1998: Comeback Kid

49ers take back the West with Rice's return

1998 Season Statistics

Receptions	Yards	Average	TDs	100+ Yards	Multi TDs	Game High Rec	Game High Yards	Game High TDs
82	1157	14.1	9	3	1	10	169	2

Achievements

Returns from injuries in 1997 and makes the Pro Bowl at 35 years of age

Becomes the oldest player to record 1,000 receiving yards (35 years)

Leads the 49ers in receptions (82) and receiving yards (1,157)

Scores more receiving touchdowns this season (9) than his last full season of football (8) despite coming back from reconstructive knee surgery

Best Game

A Week 1 triumph on national television in overtime against the New York Jets featured Garrison Hearst's dramatic 96 yard TD run and Jerry Rice's equally important psychological victory over 1997's injury plagued season with a 6 catch, 86 yard performance that featured a 14 yard TD in which Rice made a nice cut on his surgically repaired knee and racked up his customary yards after the catch for an electrifying score in the most emotionally draining victory of the 49ers' season.

Did You Know...

Jerry Rice tore a ligament in his "other" knee after a Week 10 contest at Atlanta, which means he played on two bad knees for the last six weeks of the season and in the playoffs.

Play of the Year

Days after a local sports columnist suggested the 49ers trade Rice after the season, Jerry marches into Foxboro Stadium and scores a 75 yard TD by eluding five defenders and outracing two younger and faster Patriot cbs on those two bad knees of his. The old man can still play.