NEW ORLEANS — The Superdome is known as one of the NFL’s loudest venues, but the 49ers “Faithful” hit The Big Easy in droves for the huge NFC matchup with the Saints, and players definitely noticed.
You could see it on Bourbon Street as early as Friday night, as 49ers flags hung from balconies and revelers wore a wide assortment of San Francisco jerseys. Red and gold clearly were the predominant colors of choice in the French Quarter.
On Saturday, at the “49ers Invasion” event, over 1,500 fans filled the downtown House of Blues venue to get ready for the game. Clearly thousands more entered the gates at the Superdome on Sunday and helped the 49ers pull out a thrilling 48-46 win over the Saints.
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Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo nearly lost his voice trying to give the offense the plays in the huddle. But not all of the noise was coming from Saints fans. He was very aware of the 49ers fans, who got to the the game early and likely lost their own voices trying to yell over the Saints crowd throughout the game.
“It was incredible, especially pregame,” Garoppolo said. “We went out there all the red and everything I mean, they were loud. We heard the defense chants and everything when our defense was out there.”
San Francisco 49ers
Like Garoppolo, receiver Emmanuel Sanders was impressed by the number of fans in the building during pregame. He added it to the many reasons he is very happy with his new team in California.
“Oh man, I walked out and thought it was a home game,” Sanders said. “When the game began, I was like the Saints fans definitely showed up. But [49ers fans] were loud today and they showed up.
“I’ve been feeling it since Friday the we got here. I’ve been part of a lot of great organizations and 49ers fans travel well just like the rest of them. They are in the lobby. They are enthusiastic about their team and so I’m happy to be here.”
Nick Bosa acknowledged that although it was far from a home game atmosphere, he heard the fans in cheering them on.
“Our faithful travel really well,” Bosa said. “They were definitely here today and we appreciate it.”
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The Faithful have traveled well all season, following their team to several east coast venues but it seemed like even more than ever traveled the nearly 2,000 miles to Louisiana’s bayou.
“I mean for them to travel all the way to New Orleans all the way from the bay,” Garoppolo said. "Shout out to the Faithful, that was awesome. They were rockin’. We’ve had that multiple games this year. Just love showing out and it’s even better when we win.”