Giants vs. 49ers: Frank Gore Must Keep Offense Balanced For 49ers to Win

It’s time for Frank Gore to step up and prove to San Francisco 49ers management why they gave him a fat new contract before the season started.

The San Francisco 49ers needed a career day from Alex Smith (299 yards, three TDs) to get by the New Orleans Saints, but they can’t rely on that this week.

With the vaunted New York Giants defensive line coming to town, there is no way Smith can drop back 42 times again. He’ll get eaten alive.

Gore may have had 89 yards on only 13 carries on Saturday, but he wasn’t a very big factor in the offense aside from a 42-yard fourth-quarter scamper.

In the Giants' dominating 37-20 triumph over Green Bay, the Packers ran for 147 yards on 23 carries for a 6.4 average. That was the only part of the Packers offense that had success. The pass rush forced Aaron Rodgers on the run almost every play and caused him to misfire on 20 of his passes. After the regular season Rodgers just put up, that’s incredible.

But back to Gore.

Despite dealing with a leg injury, Gore ran for 1,211 yards and eight TDs during the regular season. He was the rock that kept the chains moving and is the major reason the team finished eighth in the league in rushing (127.8).

At 5'9", 220 pounds, Gore can hide behind the massive D-Line of New York to vault back the second layer of the defense. More importantly, he can keep the defense honest. The last thing the 49ers offense needs is obvious passing downs where the G-Men can send the blitz and force Smith into bad decisions.

The 49ers can’t keep winning shootouts. They got to this point because of strong defense and an offense that controls the clock and doesn’t turn the ball over.

Feed the ball to Gore and keep the ball out of Eli Manning’s hands. It’s that simple.