49ERS AFC West stretch to be a tough test

The next three opponents are 14-8 combined.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
Having conquered their three NFC West Division opponents the first time around, the San Francisco 49ers are giving full attention to the AFC West, the NFL's best division at the 2002 season's halfway point.
Over the next three weekends, the 49ers (5-2) will play three AFC West opponents: the Raiders (4-3) Sunday in Oakland, the Chiefs (4-4) Nov. 10 in San Francisco and the Chargers (6-1) Nov. 17 in San Diego.
After starting 4-0, the Raiders have lost three straight games.
The Niners opened up a one-game on Arizona with last Sunday's 38-28 victory over the Cardinals. San Francisco led by 24 points at halftime en route to improving to 3-0 against NFC West rivals.
Quotable
"We needed all of them," said 49ers coach Steve Mariucci of the 31 points his team generated in the first 30 minutes.
"We knew we were going to be in a fight. [The Cardinals] have come from behind before and [quarterback] Jake [Plummer] got hot in the second half to make it very interesting."
Mariucci was especially pleased with the performance of safety Ronnie Heard, who's filling in for Zack Bronson.
"Those three interceptions were huge," Mariucci said of Heard's pickoffs in his second start. "He came up big when it counted. For anybody to have three interceptions in one game is unusual."
Because of injuries, Mariucci said, "We're relying on a lot of backups right now and what we've asked them to do is always be ready because they're only one play away from being a starter."
Mariucci said Heard played much more aggressively after a sluggish game in a 35-27 loss to the Saints.
"When you're playing center field as a starter for the first time, it takes a while to learn to read the coverages properly and make adjustments," Mariucci said of Heard's role. "Being new, there's a tendency to be conservative back there. He just needs to play more to feel more aggressive."
Mariucci proclaimed the AFC West "to be the NFL's toughest division. It's the most solid from top to bottom, which is why our schedule was ranked third-toughest."
Accommodations
Because Oakland's Network Associates Coliseum is about 30 miles from Santa Clara and 10 miles from 49ers Stadium, the Niners will spend Saturday night at the San Francisco Marriott they normally stay in the night before home games, then ride buses to Oakland.
"It's just different than any other stadium in the country," said Mariucci of Oakland's stadium. "It's a wild and crazy place. I'm glad we already went over there once in the exhibition season so this [trip] won't seem as strange.
"There are more people dressed up as if they are attending a Halloween costume ball and there are more things thrown at you entering and leaving the field," Mariucci said. "Security needs to be beefed up because their fans are so passionate and so loyal that sometimes they go over the edge."
Unlike the Browns-Steelers rivalry where the teams play twice every season, Mariucci says the 49ers-Raiders series is "more of an event because the infrequency in which we play makes it special.
It's almost like the Olympics, something that happens once every four years. I expect both teams to be sky high at kick off.
"Unlike Cleveland and Pittsburgh where the fans live in two different cities, this rivalry is mostly for the people of the Bay Area. I know the schools where my kids attend have both Niners and Raiders fans. There are more Niners fans on this side, but I'm not sure that's true on the East Bay."
williams@vindy.com