Frank Gore happy to line up behind these guys

SANTA CLARA -- Like a race car forced to make a pit stop, Frank Gore watched some competitors zoom past him last week. Doug Martin rushed for 251 yards, Adrian Peterson for 182 and Chris Johnson for 141.

Gore ran for zero. The 49ers had a bye.

So upon reporting for duty this week, Gore had a message for his offensive linemen.

"I told them that we have to play catch up," he said. "It seemed like nobody played defense last week. There were all these guys running for 100 yards. I told my guys we have to catch up. And we will. We'll be all right."

Gore smiled. After spending so much of his early career running for mountainous yardage behind molehill blocks, the three-time Pro Bowler is running behind an offensive line capable of making up for lost time. Gore even declared this the best O-line of his eight-year NFL career.

"They're springing me and giving me big lanes that I've never seen before," he said.

Heading into Sunday's home game against the St. Louis Rams, Gore is averaging a career-best 5.5 yards per carry -- a tick better than his 5.4 average in 2006. At this season's halfway point, he is on pace for just the fourth 1,300-plus-yard season in 49ers history.

He slipped from sixth to eighth among NFL rushing leaders during his week off (when Martin and Johnson passed him), but Gore said he doesn't need the numbers to tell him how effective his offensive line has been. His body tells him.

"It's a blessing that I'm not nicked up," Gore said. "I'm just having fun running through the big holes that they're giving me."

Gore is the only player since 2006 with at least 10,000 yards from scrimmage and 50 touchdowns. He's somehow done that behind offensive lines that have produced just two Pro Bowlers: guard Larry Allen in 2006 and left tackle Joe Staley in 2011.

He might have two more this season alone. Right tackle Anthony Davis and left guard Mike Iupati were named to Pro Football Weekly's midseason All-Pro team, and each is paying off in the way that the 49ers hoped when they embarked on their prolonged (and patient) approach to upgrading their blocking.

There are now three former first-round draft picks up front -- Staley (28th in 2007), Davis (11th, 2010) and Iupati (17th, 2010). There is also last year's free-agent score, former Pro Bowl center Jonathan Goodwin, as well as the risk-reward jackpot of right guard Alex Boone (undrafted free agent in 2009).

That explains why Gore's running space has steadily widened from dead-end alleys to two-lane highways. And it helps that the 49ers coaching staff has found ways to capitalize on its maturing talent up front.

Just ask Rams linebacker James Laurinaitis, who, while preparing for Sunday's game at Candlestick Park, marveled at the 49ers' weekly creativity.

"I don't think I've seen some of these plays since the Tecmo Super Bowl," Laurinaitis said, invoking the cult video game from the early 1990s. "They throw the house at you."

Laurinaitis, in a conference call Wednesday with Bay Area reporters, said that the 49ers list of "weird running plays" includes two-back sweeps and triple traps.
"You don't see that formation anymore where two backs line up at the same depth, side by side. It's just good stuff," Laurinaitis said. "And they have the personnel to do it because they have the offensive linemen who can pull and get out there. Or they can just come up and maul you."

The Rams are a team Gore tends to torment no matter which blockers are in front of him, averaging 113.7 yards from scrimmage in his past three home games against them. He also has 11 career touchdowns against St. Louis, tied with Arizona for his most against any opponent.

Now, he gets a crack at the Rams behind the unit he called the best O-line he's ever had. Upon hearing that compliment, his blockers -- not surprisingly -- had Gore's back

"He's probably the best runner I've played for," Goodwin said. "He's up there with a guy like Curtis Martin. He's a great back, a complete back."


(mercurynews.com)