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For the second time this year, the 49ers spent a week away from home between a pair of games on the other side of the country. For the first time this year, receiver Emmanuel Sanders was part of that road trip.

“It was really good for team bonding,” 49ers receiver Emmanuel Sanders told PFT by phone after Sunday’s 48-46 win in New Orleans. “We play as a team, and we play off each other very well.”

As to whether the plan to stay in the time zone where both games (at Baltimore, at New Orleans) were to be played made a difference, Sanders laughed and said, “We won so obviously it helped.”

He added that it would have been a challenge to go back and forth to California between games; it would have been “tough on bodies and minds,” Sanders said.

But proper planning for such trips is critical.

“I ran out of clothes,” Sanders said.

Ultimately, he may be adding a piece of jewelry to cap the season. He sees strong similarities between the 2019 49ers and the 2015 Broncos, a team with which Sanders won the Super Bowl.

“This team has the same personality, the same defense, the same intensity, and the offenses are very similar,” Sanders said. “We have the DNA to go all the way.”

Indeed they do. And if they keep winning, they won’t have to cross the country again until they make a trip to Miami in late January.