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Getting Acclimatized in Frigid Phoenix?

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The 49ers will leave their Santa Clara practice facility this week to prepare for their game in Green Bay on Saturday.

And where are they going?

Duluth, Minn.? Fargo, N.D.? International Falls, Minn.?

No, Phoenix.

The 49ers will use the Arizona Cardinals’ training facility beginning Tuesday because of swamp-like conditions at their own practice facility. They will leave Phoenix on Thursday to get cold two days early in Green Bay.

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Ricky Watters continued to stomp around the field after each unsuccessful drive, and that was the mild stuff.

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After quarterback Ty Detmer had a pass intercepted on third and one from the 49ers’ seven, it appeared Watters wanted to personally let everyone know in the stands and across America that the ball should have come his way instead. Watters appeared to yell at both teammates and coaches.

“You know I wanted to run the ball all day,” Watters said. “We had a great chance to win, a great chance. I was very frustrated, we were all frustrated as a team squandering those scoring opportunities.”

Watters averaged 2.9 yards a carry.

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Philadelphia linebacker James Willis thought his teammates played the kind of game that earns a team another playoff opportunity, but suggested his own offense let him down.

“That’s the hardest part for me to swallow right now,” he said. “Our defense came out and gave a really solid effort. To hold the 49ers to 14 points in the playoffs, that’s really big.”

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Tackle Steve Wallace, a mainstay with the 49ers before leaving to join the Eagles, was cut earlier this season in Philadelphia, and then was quickly picked up by San Francisco.

After playing the entire game at left tackle, a revenge-minded Wallace savored every second of the 49ers’ victory and was the last man off the field. But before leaving, Wallace removed his spiked shoes and tossed them into the stands, and then tore off his jersey and was about to pitch that too, before saving it as a keepsake.

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“I don’t have any hard feelings against the Eagles because they let me go,” said Wallace, and then he grinned.

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The 49ers were without quarterback Steve Young and tight end Brent Jones earlier this season when they went to Green Bay and lost, 23-20, in overtime, and they were still in the process of trying to develop Terrell Owens as a wide receiver to keep the pressure off Jerry Rice.

They figured if they got past Philadelphia, that motivated by last year’s loss to the Packers in San Francisco in a divisional playoff game and armed with their entire offensive arsenal, they would have a great opportunity to win in Green Bay.

“We’re going to Green Bay and it isn’t for the cheese,” said safety Merton Hanks.

Many of the 49ers pointed to that earlier overtime loss to Green Bay this season as a reminder of what was to come, knowing in all probability that the Packers would have the home-field edge and that San Francisco would have to go through the snow to get to New Orleans.

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