When asked about the moment he felt he mastered the wide receiver position, Rice simply said that he never did, despite his excellence at the position over his career, because he could always point out something to improve on.
"I never had that complete game... I could always go back and I could look at that film and see something I could've done better."
During the interview, Rice noted his knack for breaking down everything, no matter the stats for the game, as a part of his mentality to continue improving.
"If I had a game where I had ten receptions, over 200 yards, [and] three touchdowns, everyone else would think that's an awesome ballgame. But then, I break everything down, even my blocking. If I'm able to make a block for Roger Craig or Tom Rathman, that might be that block to spring them where they could get into the endzone."
Craig, a four-time Pro Bowler, and Rathman were part of the 1988 and 1989 49ers Super Bowl teams.
While arguably being the best receiver in history, Rice expressed the value of coaching, because it would continue to get him better.
"If [a coach] is coaching me, I'm going to get better," said Rice. "If it's something I was not doing right, you know, running a route, or not making a block or something like that, I wanted the coach to approach me and tell me, and that was going to be my incentive to work a little bit harder."
While Rice was one of the greatest to ever do it on the gridiron, his next focus will be on the golf course this weekend in Lake Tahoe.
Written By:
Writer/Reporter for 49ers Webzone
All articles by Rohan Chakravarthi
@RohanChakrav
YouTube Channel
Rohan Chakravarthi
Writer/Reporter for 49ers Webzone
All articles by Rohan Chakravarthi
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