For many of the 49ers’ players, the playoff buzz, the media crowds, the brighter spotlight, is brand new.
But for their longest-tenured player, it is old and familiar. And worth the wait.
“Obviously, we haven’t been here since 2013,” tackle Joe Staley said Tuesday. “I’m excited to get back into the playoffs and play meaningful football.”
Staley, 35, wept after the 26-21 victory in Seattle on Dec. 29, saying his emotions “hit me like a wave.” On Tuesday, as the team ramped up its preparation for Minnesota, he was matter of fact.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I always believed,” Staley said about the possibility of returning to the playoffs in his career. “There were some dark years there as a franchise, which has been well written about and reported on. Once I met (head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch), and the vision they had for the franchise, I was pretty confident we were going to get there.
“I was happy I was still feeling the way I felt, still had years left to play and was able to see this through.”
That last part of the equation was a question for much of the season. Staley played in the fewest games (seven) he has in his 13-year career. He suffered a broken fibula in the second game against Cincinnati and returned in the ninth game against the Seahawks, only to break a finger.
But in the final four games of the season, as the 49ers had to play at full throttle, Staley regained his form.
And now, he is one of the players whom the untested guys in the locker room will be watching to see how he responds.
“This is the stuff that can get a little distracting, the media coverage, the heightened awareness,” Staley said while standing at a podium in the large auditorium, a spot he is rarely in during the season. “As far as performance on field, it’s what we’ve been doing the whole entire season. That’s a big thing to stress to the guys.
“I haven’t made any big speeches and I don’t think we need any big speeches. We’re doing what we’ve done the entire season, prepare the way we’ve prepared every single day. That’s what’s going to carry us through the playoffs and prepare for the game on Saturday and hopefully going forward.
“Control what we can control and that’s the practice we have today and the preparation we put in. You don’t have to put any extra pressure on yourself. It’s about doing all about what you’ve done the whole entire year. That’s why I think the habits and the routines you build during the season are so important for opportunities like this. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
In his time with the 49ers, Staley has learned what makes for a winning team and culture. He has joked that he enjoys roller coasters, and that has been his 49ers experience. Down, then skyrocketing up, plummeting back down, and now the team is chugging up another peak. He was drafted by Mike Nolan in 2007, played for Mike Singletary and had not had a winning season until Jim Harbaugh arrived in 2011. Staley went to three straight NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl and then witnessed the whole thing unravel.
But he wasn’t ready to retire. Nor did he put a timeline on a possible turnaround by the new bosses.
“You realize the position we were in, after a 2-14 year, that it was going to take time and just not be one offseason,” Staley said. “But the guys they were bringing in, guys they were drafting, and everything they’ve been telling me since the day they got here has been true. They had a vision. It’s been exciting to see them build this place.”
Staley has protected a number of quarterbacks, from Trent Dilfer to Colin Kaepernick to Jimmy Garoppolo. This season, he’s also protecting one of the 49ers’ most valuable offensive assets.
Emmanuel Sanders is Staley’s locker mate, at a spot within range of the team basketball hoop in the locker room.
“I love being locker buddies with Joe; he lets me sit in his locker, so I don’t get hit by a basketball,” Sanders said. “I told all my teammates that the only way I go on IR is if I take a basketball to my head. So I scoot over into Joe’s locker.
“He’s a great teammate. I enjoy playing with him. When I first got here, he was down with so many injuries. … He’s the definition of resilient. To have a long career like he had is extraordinary. He’s a guy I look up to because I want to be where he’s at.”
This week, all the 49ers are looking up to Staley. The man who persevered. Who has been rewarded. And whose roller-coaster ride is heading upward once again.
Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion
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49ers’ roller-coaster ride: Joe Staley happy to be back on a playoff peak - San Francisco Chronicle
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