Jerry Rice rips 49ers for attitude during season-opening loss
The San Francisco 49ers suffered a surprising loss to the Arizona Cardinals in Week 1, and Jerry Rice isn’t happy.
The Niners legend was one of the few allowed in the stadium to watch Sunday’s game. He told 95.7 The Game on Monday that the Niners’ play didn’t bother him as much as the team’s attitude.
“During the break they were playing music and we had certain guys dancing that hadn’t done anything on the football field. They didn’t have a reception or anything,” Rice said, via Michael Nowels of Bay Area News Group. “That’s not the standard of the San Francisco 49ers. If you want to dance or do whatever, you shouldn’t be wearing that uniform. You gotta be productive, you’ve gotta contribute to the team. And if you can’t do that, go do something else.
“That pissed me off. The Niners are not about that. If you score a touchdown, you can do whatever you want. You can dance, you can break dance, I don’t care. But if you’re dancing and you haven’t made a catch or anything, I have a problem with that.”
Rice didn’t name names, but he didn’t hide his unhappiness. San Francisco’s second half was particularly underwhelming, as George Kittle disappeared from the passing game and Jimmy Garoppolo missed key throws. That had a lot to do with the loss, but Rice knows attitude matters as well.
Some Niners certainly did their job. Rice will simply want to see all of them doing it next week.