European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 11, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 34 b the tafts and stripes monday january 11,1993 49ers bump skins by Bob Oates the los Angeles times san Francisco on what was probably the most nervous Day of his life Steve Young won the game the hard Way saturday a with Joe Montana warming up on the sideline and eager to move out to his Rescue. T As a quarterback Young is no Montana maybe but he did no to need rescuing. He took charge in the fourth Quarter and As the san Francisco 49ers advanced to sundays National football conference championship game Young sent Montana Back to the Bench and redskins Back to Washington a 20-13 loser. Asked to explain it Washington coach Joe Gibbs said a the 49ers Are a team without a  it was a game of bad plays on a bad Field with eight fumbles four for each Side. And Young made his share of the bad ones fumbling a few times and throwing one atrocious interception. That did no to Surprise Gibbs. A with the mud and All those were the worst Field conditions in be Ever seen a he said. The 49cr turnovers would have unnerved some quarterbacks. They seemingly Only encouraged Young who had delivered two touchdown passes to push the 49ers into a 17-3 halftime Lead a Lead they still held in the fourth Quarter. But the redskins then seized the momentum taking Possession on 49er mis plays to close the score to 17-13. All of a sudden it appeared to be the redskins game if they could Complete one touchdown drive. On two Good passes by quarterback Mark Rypien they moved 45 Yards prompting 49er coach George Seifert to say when Rypien got going he was a Thorn in our  but there at the 49er 23-Yard line the redskins came up with the turning Point play a fumbled Exchange that gave the Ball Back to the 49ers when Rypien a a a quite get the Ball to Brian Mitchell. Washington quarterback Mark Rypien 11 goes into the sack of 49er defensive tackle Pierce Holt in san Francisco on saturday. A i think there was mud on the Ball Quot Gibbs said. Rypien said a the Ball just came out. Mistakes killed  there Seenie to be a lot of Daylight ahead of Mitchell if he been Able to grasp the Ball ii Fly. A i done to know if i would have scored but id have gotten a first Down a he said. More than 10 minutes remained after the Rypien Mitchell mishap a time enough for the redskins if they could Force another 49er Fumble or interception and drive again. They . Young coolly used up More than seven minutes moving the 49crs 59 Yards to their final Field goal and when Rypien got the Ball one last time with 2 15 to play he could Advance the redskins Only a few Yards. Fittingly the last two plays of the game and the season for the redskins were dropped passes. They have had that kind of season. Youngs first half to passes a to wide receiver John Taylor for 5 Yards and to tight end Brent Jones for 16 a set up the fourth Quarter Field goal drive that was probably the most dramatic of his life. As Montana loosened up on the sideline Young began it with a 12-Yard gain on a called running play. Moments earlier Youngs Fumble had put Washington into position for an easy touchdown. With another botched play he could have been a psychological wreck. His coaches Seifert and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan gave Young a Chance to make a positive play immediately on first Down a and when he made it racing 12 Yards the most significant drive of the 49er season was under Way. In the next few minutes. Young faced two other nerve racking situations a a third-and-10 play and later a fourth and a play. But be made both the first on a throw to Jerry Rice and the second on a sneak. Later Young came close to admitting that for him in his first playoff Start it was nervous time in the second half. Montana has not Only made a few playoff starts he has won four super bowls. And to hear Bay area football fans talk most of them ignoring Youngs performance this season As Well As the clubs 14-2 record wanted Montana in there. Young said of his playoff debut a in the second half you realize this is  a a in All the circumstances anyone could be pardoned for dropping the Ball. Still the truth is that most of Youngs blunders weren to blunders of execution. He seemed rather to be Snake bitten. For example on one Young Fumble play he was running a Bootleg when a Redskin linebacker got around one of his teammates and reached him just As Young turned to throw. Surprised he let it go straight up. If the 49ers had picked up the Blitzer that  have happen. On another Young Fumble a teammate Center Jesse Sapolu ran into him. In another he was bin sided. But in this instance for Young the potential was for tragedy not merely a turnover. After a Brilliant season he could have fallen apart he could have folded he could have lost to Rypien. But Rypien was having his own troubles. For example on Rypien a Best Long pass of the game the first half bomb that would have kept the redskins in it his receiver Gary Clark jumped for the Ball instead of running under  labor Deal will ensure competitive balance by have Goldberg san Francisco apr a hitherto undisclosed provision of the a Fly a new labor contract will keep the leagues top teams from signing any free agents. Nicknamed the a Rooney rules because it was proposed by Pittsburgh Steeler president Dan Rooney it will probably keep Reggie White of the Philadelphia facies this year s prime tree agent from joining most of the teams Tor whom he says head like to play. A a it a designed to ensure competitive balance a Joe Browne the a Fly a vice president for communications said last week. Under the plan teams that make the conference championship games a Buffalo san Francisco Dallas and the Miami san Diego Winner a will not be allowed to sign any free agents unless they lose one. And if they lose one they will be allowed to sign a free agent for the same salary or less than the departed player is getting. Moreover the next four teams a Pittsburgh Washington Philadelphia and sundays late loser a will be Able to sign Only one free agent and pay hint an average of $1.5 million or less. They will also be Able to replace departed players but Only at salaries of less than $1 million. The Rule applies to years in which there is no salary Cap which will be triggered when league wide player costs reach 67 percent of Gross Revenue. That will include this season the first for free Agency. That is certain to limit the choices of White the Philadelphia defensive end who is one of the few superstars available. Because he was a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits that led to the settlement he can neither be designated a a franchise player nor one of two others protected by a team this season. At various times White has named Washington Dallas san Francisco the los Angeles raiders the new York giants and Miami As teams head consider joining. But under the Rooney Rule head probably fit Only the giants and Raider neither of whom made the playoffs. Sao Francisco and Dallas for example qualified for the pfc title game and Miami was to be in action later on sunday. Should Miami win the Rooney Rule prevents the dolphins cowboys and 49ers from signing any free agent and the redskins or Miami if the dolphins were to lose sunday Are limited to spending Only $1.5 million or about what White now makes with Philadelphia. Non do. Those teams have a player who could leave and thus open a salary spot