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FOXBORO - When R.G. Moss speaks, people listen. Even if it's just for 3 minutes and 26 seconds.

The Patriots' wide receiver and captain held court in the locker room Wednesday for that short period of time, but it drew the undivided attention of the entire assembled media corps. These occurrences aren't as infrequent as they used to be, probably because Moss sees it as part of his responsibility as a team captain, but they're still brief enough that they result in a mad rush to his locker every time he lets it be knows that he's going to be articulating for the next few minutes.

The Patriots are preparing in hurry-up mode for their departure Friday for San Francisco and a week-long West Coast odyssey that starts with Sunday's game at Candlestick Park against the 49ers (4:15 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12) and ends with the following Sunday night's game at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego against the Chargers. Moss' quick responses to questions mirrored the accelerated pace of that preparation.

First and foremost, Moss said he believed it was good to have the bye week out of the way and to be refocusing upon the task at hand.

"Last week was kind of off for us because we didn't play on Sunday," he said. "Now it's just getting back in the flow of it and back to playing football." Much has been made of Moss' new role as a locker-room leader, an image that was bolstered again Wednesday by Patriots' coach Bill Belichick.

"If you look at him day to day, I don't think there's that much difference between this year and last year," Belichick said. "He's still the first guy in line in the drills, and very supportive in the huddle, always talking to the quarterbacks and the receivers about what happened on that play or how to get ready for the next one ... and he always tries to stay a little bit ahead of the count.

"For a captain, I think that just shows the respect that he has from his teammates," he said. "And we have our captains' meetings every week, and obviously he participates in those, which he didn't do last year. There's maybe a little more carryover there, but just on a day-to-day basis, from meetings to walkthroughs to practice to films after practice, I think his leadership last year was every bit as good as it is this year, and his recognition as a captain probably speaks to that."

"It's just believing in what Coach is selling," Moss said. "When you have everybody on the same page, I guess it's easier to lead a team. I think everybody is buying into what he's selling so I don't think it's just me being a leader. I think everybody's on the same page."

Moss admitted that the captaincy is a special honor to him.

"Definitely, it's a blessing," he said. "It means the guys still believe in me, that I can lead on and off the field, if it's with my play or with my emotions or if it's verbally. So that's a good thing. It definitely felt good to be appointed captain of the New England Patriots."

Shifting gears, Moss said it was important for the team to rally around quarterback Matt Cassel as he grows into the role of starter he assumed when Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury against Kansas City.

"First of all, he has to believe in himself," Moss said, "and I think it will trickle on down to the whole offense. We've seen Matt progress these last couple of weeks I think quicker than we expected him to. We just have to put guys around him. He's the quarterback so he gets the good and the bad.

"With the 10 guys that we put around him, we have to make it happen," he continued. "It's not really that everything's on him or on his shoulders. He has to be smart, distribute the ball, but at the same time he still has guys out there that have to get the job done. We like what we're doing as a whole offensive unit. Hopefully, we can keep it going."

Moss is apparently taking the captaincy seriously enough to keep quiet about his own drop-off in productivity. He has 12 catches for 163 yards and one touchdown through three games, as opposed to 22 catches for 403 yards and five scores last year at this time. He might get a chance to pad those numbers this Sunday. Although the 49ers aren't very familiar to Patriot Nation - they last played the Patriots in the regular season on Jan. 2, 2005, at Gillette Stadium and the Patriots haven't been to Candlestick (then 3Com Park) since Nov. 9, 1995, the game in which Drew Bledsoe suffered a shoulder separation - Moss said that no one should take them lightly from what he's seen on film

"They've got (Patrick) Willis at middle linebacker (and) a very experienced secondary," he said. "They really stand out on film. They really hawk that ball. It's been a point of emphasis on playing fast and getting off to a good start. Just by looking at film, they have a great group of guys, not just on defense, but on offense, too. They're very experienced and very well coached. So we've got our work cut out for us this week. Hopefully, we can get it done so we'll see what happens."

With the bye week out of the way, the Patriots are entering a difficult stretch in which they play two West Coast games, return home for a Monday Night Football meeting with Denver, then venture to Indianapolis two weeks later.

"The weekend was really for us to rest our bodies and I think we did that," he said. "It is early ... we did have an early bye week. The good thing is, we can keep practicing, keep working day in and day out knowing we don't have a week off. So I look forward to this run. I'm just glad to be back and playing on Sundays."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.