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49ers Defense Feeds Off Each Other

Dashon Goldson is a Patrick Willis fan, too.

The Pro Bowl 49ers safety showed up for his Wednesday press conference wearing Willis’ No. 52 jersey to the podium.

“It’s Patrick Willis, this is our captain,” Goldson said. “He’s a great player, he had a real good game last week and we want to get another one of those again this week.”

Since Jim Harbaugh and his staff took over the 49ers before last season, the locker room has become a tight-knit group across the board. Offense, defense, it doesn’t matter – these 49ers are friends as well as teammates.

“We feed off each other,” Goldson said. “From coaching staff to the players to the locker room. The energy around here is good. That’s the thing that sets us apart from a lot of teams is we feed off each other. When one guy makes a play, we all want to make a play. We’re always happy for the next guy’s success.”

The New York Giants are the task at hand this week, as quarterback Eli Manning and the high-octane Big Blue offense are set to travel to Candlestick Park. The Giants currently rank third in passing offense, averaging 309 yards per game, and feature one of the game’s top receivers in Victor Cruz.

“We’ve definitely got our work cut out this week,” Goldson said. “They’ve got a good wide receiving core and that quarterback is a machine back there. … We’ve got to get people in his face.”

In two contests against the 49ers last year, Manning completed 59.2 percent of his passes (58 of 98) for an average of 313.5 yards per game, while totaling four touchdowns and four interceptions. Aside from his ability to wedge passes into tight windows and make quick decisions, Goldson said he’s been impressed with Manning’s toughness.

“He’s a tough player,” Goldson said. “He took a lot of shots from us last year and I thought he was going to get up slow, but he got back up at the end of that game and finished it off.”