Frank Gore Didn’t Fare So Great in His First Matchup With 49ers
For what could be the final time in his playing days, Frank Gore has a Sunday date with the San Francisco 49ers.
Although Gore — now with the New York Jets — could seemingly play forever, the end often comes unexpectedly. Gore played 10 seasons with the 49ers and only played them once, when he suited up for the Indianapolis Colts in an October 2017 matchup between the two teams.
How did Gore fare that day? Let’s just say he didn’t set any records in the revenge game.
Frank Gore is still going strong in his 16th season
Frank Gore could play forever at this rate and no one would be truly surprised.
A third-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2005, Gore totaled 15,371 rushing yards and 79 touchdowns through Sept. 13, 2020. Gore has also caught 468 passes for 3,869 yards and 18 touchdowns in 227 games, 205 of which he started.
Statistically, Gore is one of the greatest running backs in NFL history and will likely enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame later this decade.
Gore had 24 yards on six carries in the New York Jets’ Week 1 loss to Buffalo. With Le’Veon Bell out indefinitely, Gore will take a larger role in a Jets offense which looked lost against Buffalo.
Gore spent most of his career with the 49ers
Although Frank Gore was an elite running back at the University of Miami, he dropped to the third round in 2005 because of a knee injury.
Gore’s loss was the San Francisco 49ers’ gain and he quickly blossomed into one of the NFL’s best young running backs. Gore ran for 11,073 yards and 64 touchdowns on 4.5 yards per carry in 148 games (134 starts) for the 49ers from 2005-14.
Gore made five Pro Bowls and earned second-team All-Pro honors in 2006, when he ran for 1,695 yards on 5.4 yards per attempt. In eight career playoff games, Gore ran for 668 yards and five touchdowns on 4.5 yards per try.
San Francisco parted ways with Gore following the 2014 season. That offseason marked a mass exodus in San Francisco with All-Pro linebacker Patrick Willis retiring and head coach Jim Harbaugh taking the same role at Michigan.
How did Gore fare in his first game against his old team?
Frank Gore signed with the Indianapolis Colts in the spring of 2015 and played there through 2017.
Because of how the NFL’s schedule format works, Gore would have to wait until 2017 — barring a Super Bowl matchup — to play a meaningful game against the 49ers if he stayed in Indianapolis the entire time. That matchup came on Oct. 10, 2017., when Gore carried the ball 14 times for 48 yards — a 3.83 YPC average — and caught three passes for 38 yards.
Gore also fumbled twice in a 26-23 Colts victory.
Gore and the Jets have a tough task on their hand against the defending NFC champions. Everything — and given the Jets’ luck, more than everything — needs to go the Jets’ way if they’re to upset the 49ers.
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