Curry says 49ers helped by not using more Gore

Considering Frank Gore ran for 207 yards and single-handedly changed the game the last time Seattle played the San Francisco 49ers, the Seahawks were pleasantly surprised Sunday to see very little of the standout running back.

Gore carried just nine times for 25 yards as the Seahawks pulled out a 20-17 victory at Qwest Field.

The 49ers have gone to more of a spread passing attack in recent weeks behind quarterback Alex Smith, but Seattle's defenders seemed stunned that San Francisco stubbornly stuck with that ploy given their history against Gore.

In seven previous starts against Seattle, Gore had averaged 128 yards rushing and 160 yards of total offense.
This time he caught five passes for 37 yards and had just nine rushes, his lowest output of the season outside of a game when he got hurt after just one carry.

Was that strategy a relief for a Seattle defense that gave up 256 yards in a 23-10 victory in Week 2?

"Anytime you play a team that you rushed for almost 300 yards, why not do it again?" said rookie linebacker Aaron Curry. "I mean, at least attempt to. It was just weird that they came out and wanted to spread us out and go deep and pay attention to the pass."

Seattle coach Jim Mora noted that Gore ran the ball just four times for 14 yards in the first half and said, "Interestingly enough, they didn't attempt to run the ball."

Surprised?

"I'm not really concerned about their strategy, their philosophy," Mora said. "I'm just glad that he didn't have the ball more because the guy's an outstanding football player. But they've got a lot of outstanding football players."

Curry actually saw less playing time because of the 49ers' spread attack as he and fellow linebacker Leroy Hill often come off the field in nickel and dime pass-defense packages.

"It's tough on me and Leroy both," Curry said. "But whatever it takes for us to win."

As for holding Gore in check when he did get chances, Curry declined to take much credit, even though Jordan Babineaux forced a critical fumble in the fourth quarter that set up Seattle's first go-ahead field goal by Olindo Mare.

"I don't think he touched the ball enough to do much with it," said Curry. "Frank Gore is one of those guys, every time he touches it you have to figure out how to stop him. Their game plan wasn't necessarily to run the ball like last time."

Gore has had only one 100-yard game since the Seattle outburst, running for 104 yards against the Bears three weeks ago. He ran just seven times for 59 yards against Green Bay and 16 times for 33 yards last week against Jacksonville, so the Seahawks had seen this trend coming.

They just found it something of a relief to not get a face full of Gore once again.

"Well, I don't want to call it relieved," said Curry. "But it's a load off when they take care of one of our big problems for us. We didn't have to come out there and stack the box every play and allow them to go deep whenever they feel like it.

"For them to take that load off for us was beautiful."

Click here to Frank Gore’s proCane Rookie Card.



(seattlepi.com)