Gore Channels his Inner
Marshall
Aug/06/08 10:09 PM Filed in:
Frank Gore
Not much going on in Santa
Clara Tuesday, just a single special teams
practice in the late afternoon. So, with all the
negativity surrounding the 49ers' offense and
their passing game, we thought we might try to
lift some spirits and turn to Frank Gore.
This is the the best shape I've seen him in. He said he
dropped 10 pounds and he said he weighs about 214. He's
never had the cut physique of a Vernon Davis, but gone
is last year's baby fat. I don't blame him for that.
Last year was one of the toughest of his life. He lost
his mother, Liz, in September and then good friend Sean
Taylor later in the season. He wanted to gain over
2,000 yards and he barely made half of that with 1,102
yards. He also saw his yards per carry drop from 5.4 in
2006 to 4.2 last year. He battled through a sprained
ankle for most of the season and had to watch
opportunities disappear while the offense put together
the most three-and-outs of any team in the league.
Gore has the type of personality where he blames much
of last year's offensive woes upon himself. So this
year he decided to take a different approach. He's
doing everything future Hall of Fame running back
Marshall Faulk is telling him to do.
"I talked to him three of four times," Gore said.
"Before training camp he told me some things."
The first was to get down to 212 pounds, the same
weight Faulk was when he was the centerpiece of the
Rams' offense under Mike Martz. He told Gore to run
after practice every day. Gore does that. And he said
to pepper Martz with questions and Gore is complying
there too.
The mimick of Faulk is going well. Gore looks like a
more polished receiver and he's darting into holes with
razor-like cuts.
Martz is likely to use Gore differently than Faulk -
more running and less pass receiving. Martz is also
likely to do everything he can to get defenses from
loading up against Gore by using three- and
four-receiver sets and lots of motion.
Maybe Gore does rush for 2,000 yards, just a year later
than he anticipated.
(sfgate.com)