Heading East Again, 49ers Comfortable
SANTA CLARA (CBS / AP) -- Traveling three time zones to the East has yet to take the surging San Francisco 49ers out of their comfort zone.
The 49ers have been road warriors during their first season under coach Jim Harbaugh, becoming the first West Coast team since 1996 to win three games in the Eastern time zone during their 6-1 start.
San Francisco could extend that run and remain unbeaten on the road when it faces the slumping Washington Redskins on Sunday. The 49ers haven't started 4-0 on the road since 1992.
But as his team packed up Friday for its only road trip in a five-week span, Harbaugh said the 49ers are guarding against getting comfortable with themselves and the newfound success they're having far away from the Bay Area.
"We want to stay sharp, take no shortcuts, don't want to let our guard down," Harbaugh said. "But I have a lot more confidence now than we did the first time we went on an East Coast road trip. And that really comes from the way the players are going about their business. The plan is in place and it's the way our guys prepare, which is big."
The 49ers have gotten three of their biggest wins on the road this year during their climb back to prominence after eight consecutive seasons without a winning record or playoff berth.
In a four-week span before its Oct. 23 bye week, San Francisco rallied in the fourth quarter for comeback wins at Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Detroit. Those three teams now have a combined record of 14-8.
The 49ers did not return to the Bay Area after their Sept. 25 victory at Cincinnati, instead spending the ensuing week in Youngstown, Ohio, to prepare for their next game at Philadelphia. San Francisco rallied from a 20-point deficit in the third quarter for a 24-23 victory over the Eagles, and the success of that 10-day road trip had an impact on the entire team.
"We started playing real good football after that," offensive tackle Joe Staley said. "That might have had something to do with it. We just kind of started playing better."
Staley is the leader of a unit that struggled in September, but has improved steadily since then. The line has played a significant role in San Francisco's five-game winning streak and the team's climb to sixth in the NFL rankings in rushing offense.
That line has performed well in the raucous atmosphere of enemy stadiums, marking a change from how a young unit typically handled road games last year. Staley said the 49ers have better focus now than during his first four NFL seasons, when San Francisco won a total of eight away games—and just one against a team outside the NFC West.
"The belief we have in ourselves and the confidence level we play with goes hand in hand with playing better on the road and believing we're going to win even if we're on the road," Staley said. "You have to be really dialed in to what you're trying to do and not let crowd noise affect you. We've been doing a good job keeping that to a minimum and really focusing."
The Niners also have done a good job silencing road crowds with their stifling and aggressive play on defense.
"Every stadium really feeds off defense and big hits and that's really where the momentum comes from," safety Dashon Goldson said. "When your defense goes out there on the field and the crowd is into it and on their feet, that's when you've got to be ready to step up. We're preparing ourselves and not letting that East Coast time be a factor in our field of play."
NOTES: DE Ray McDonald (hamstring) is listed as doubtful against the Redskins, but he said Friday, "I expect to play Sunday. It's a long season,so I don't want to rush back too quick, but they're just being cautious. It's a day-to-day thing and we'll see what happens Sunday." The 49ers are looking for their first 7-1 start and six-game winning streak since 1997, when San Francisco started 11-1 under first-year coach Steve Mariucci.
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