Frank Gore is now the NFL record holder for most games played by a running back at 240. He passed Lorenzo Neal who played in 239.
What is amazing about Gore is that when the San Francisco 49ers selected him there weren’t many expecting him to have a long career after suffering two torn ACL injuries to his left knee while playing at the University of Miami (FL). He said “going through all the injuries, and then when I get to the league just hearing all the negative stuff, I set my goals and said I’ll never let a man judge me.”
So with that it’s time to take a look at the top moments of the legendary career of Gore.
His first catch and carry came on September 11, 2005 in a 28-25 win over the St. Louis Rams. He caught a three yard pass from wide receiver Arnaz Battle in the second quarter and in the third quarter took a handoff from Tim Rattay for two yards.
He ended the day with four carries for 17 yards and two catches for 21 yards.
Gore’s first career rushing touchdown came on a 72 yard run on October 23rd, 2005 in a 52-17 loss to the team now known as the Washington Football Team.
On December 24, 2005 also against St. Louis he had his first career game with multiple rushing touchdowns with two.
The first career 100 yard game for Gore came against the Houston Texans on January 1, 2006. He carried the ball 25 times for 108 yards.
He then exploded in the 2006 season. He set a career-high in yardage with 1,695, carries with 312, yards per game with 105.9, receptions with 61 and receiving yards with 485. His combined yardage 2,180.
Gore’s first career TD reception came on December 14, 2006 against the Seattle Seahawks.
From 2006 to 2016 there were only two seasons that Gore didn’t hit the 1,000 yard rushing mark.
He has two games of rushing for over 200 yards and both instances came against Seattle. One on November 19, 2006 where he carried the ball 24 times for 212 yards. The other on September 20, 2009 when he carried the ball 16 times for 207 yards and two touchdowns.
The most receptions Gore has had in a game is 11 against the Arizona Cardinals.
The most yards receiving in a game was 102 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Gore is an excellent blocker and great awareness for recognizing blitzes.
He came up with the game winning reception to help the New York Jets avoid a winless season.
What makes Gore so great is that he’s been consistently healthy. The most games in a season he ever missed was five. There has been only one season in his career where he hasn’t rushed for at least 600 yards or got 173 or more carries.
The Jets earned their second win of the season and Gore became the third running back in NFL history to record 16,000 rushing yards.
Unfortunately Gore missed the final game of the season and is only eight yards shy of 20,000 all-purpose yards. Rumors did indicate that he is not planning on retiring yet.