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The San Francisco 49ers are officially departed for New Jersey. The team had an early 9:50 a.m. practice session, and then Jim Harbaugh's weekly Friday press conference at 11:15 a.m. There was locker room availability after that, and then the team departed for the airport. They will arrive tonight, giving them Saturday to get ready for Sunday's game against the New York Giants. You can track the flight, which I believe is this one.
We've discussed the 49ers travel schedule plenty, but it is worth noting again that this marks the final significant road trip of the season. They have two more road games, but they will remain in the pacific time zone for both of those games. The next two weeks they are at home, then they have a two-game road trip that includes Oakland Seattle. They then wrap up the season with a pair of home games. For travel purposes, they will essentially be playing five home games and one road game to close out the season.
That does not guarantee a single thing, given some of the opponents they will be facing, but removing most travel issues from the equation is a big plus in a tightly knotted NFC playoff race. A short trip up to Seattle does not make for an easy trip, but coming off three straight Bay Area games, I'll take it.