The San Francisco 49ers and Washington Redskins appear to be headed in opposite directions. Washington is 1-5 and recently fired its head coach. San Francisco is a perfect 5-0, sitting atop the NFC West standings, and has one of the best football minds in the game leading it.
It might be easy for an undefeated team to underestimate a one-win opponent. That doesn't seem to be the case in Santa Clara.
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"They're still an NFL team," quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said before Wednesday's practice. "They've got good players on both sides of the ball, good coaches that are going to game plan for us, and they're coming off their first win, so obviously they have a little juice with them and everything.
"It will be a good test for us on Sunday, though. You know, long trip out there, and just go have to handle business out there."
Kyle Shanahan is doing what he can to ensure the #49ers don't have a let-down against Washington. One veteran said the team spent this morning going over all the bad plays from Sunday against the Rams. It was humbling, the player said.
— Chris Biderman (@ChrisBiderman) October 16, 2019
It will be a bit of a homecoming for 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, who spent four seasons (2010-13) with Washington as the offensive coordinator. There is no added motivation for Shanahan, though, who, like the 49ers, is treating it like any other game.
"Kyle's got juice every week," Garoppolo said. "He really does. He comes in ready to roll Wednesday morning, gets to the team meeting, and gets the team ready to roll."
San Francisco and Washington kick off from FedExField on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. PT (1:00 p.m. ET).