With Super Bowl 50 at Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium on Sunday, a look at top moments and performances by Bay Area players on the game’s biggest stage.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The loudest ovation during Super Bowl week’s Opening Night event at San Jose’s SAP Center?
No, it was not for Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. Nor did they roar for Denver Broncos signal caller Peyton Manning in the same vein.
Jerry Rice, pulling on his No. 80 San Francisco 49ers jersey, caused the scene, as the Hall of Famer gave the locals what they wanted, much the same as he did in Super Bowl XXIII.
Rice’s tour de force against the Cincinnati Bengals might sometimes get lost in the fog of time, as most simply remember John Taylor hauling in Joe Montana’s 10-yard game-winning pass with 34 seconds remaining. But were it not for Rice’s heroics -- three of his 11 receptions came on that final drive, for 51 yards -- the 49ers would not have been in position to pull off the 20-16 comeback victory at Joe Robbie Stadium near Miami on Jan. 22, 1989.
Indeed, Rice still jokes that if Taylor had made his block on Rice’s 27-yard catch and run that put the Niners at the Bengals’ 18-yard line, he -- and not Taylor -- would have had the game-winning score.
Alas, Rice would have to settle for a then-record 215 yards receiving and TD on his 11 catches and the game’s MVP award, as well as being No. 4 on our list of top Super Bowl moments by a Bay Area player.
It was far from Rice’s only big moment on the game’s biggest stage ... he won three rings with the 49ers, played in another Super Bowl with the Oakland Raiders and caught a combined 33 passes for 589 yards and eight TDs in those four games, scoring in every one.