SANTA CLARA – Here’s what Frank Gore said in the locker room today.
Q: You missed practice yesterday. Was that related to the knee or were you getting some midseason rest?
GORE: Rest.
Q: The knee’s fine?
GORE: Yeah, it’s fine.
Q: Are you going to practice today?
GORE: Yeah, I’m going to practice today.
Q: So you’re expecting to play Sunday?
GORE: Yeah I’ll play. I’ll play good.
Q: Last year you got injured in Arizona…
GORE: I don’t want to talk about no injuries, man.
Q: Right, but in that game you were on your way to having a big game…
GORE: Things happen for a reason and I’m back and I’ll be ready to play on Sunday.
Q: Have you seen any team stack the box against you like the Giants did on Sunday?
GORE: My whole career (laughs). Not like that. It was ten men in the box. Like they said, they were coming to stop the run. We got it done, though. I still think we could have still run the ball pretty good. But, you know, different game. Kendall did a great job. Wish I could have been out there. I think I could have still had a successful day if I could have continued playing.
Q: How did you injure your knee on Sunday?
GORE: They fell on me. Banged it. Hit the ground. Hyper extended my and that kind of shut down my whole leg. I couldn’t really push off like I wanted to. I just wanted to be smart and Coach Rathman wanted me to be smart. I know we’ve got a long season ahead. I know we can be successful and I want to be there.
Q: How important is it that you can rotate with Kendall this Sunday since you’re playing a few days later in Baltimore?
GORE: Whatever Coach wants to do I’m fine with it. But you know I want to be out there. I want to be out there bad.
Q: It looked like there were a couple times in the second half where you forced your way back on the field.
GORE: Yeah, I could have played, man. Coach Rathman, and I’m happy he did it, he told me he wanted me to play third down, and I did one play. I do whatever it takes, but I wanted to run a route too.
Q: What did your teammates and coaches say to you after the game, knowing how much you hate to sit?
GORE: Coaches know how much I love the game, what I do. Rathman kept calling, I kept ignoring his calls (big smile). But I’m happy he did it. It was for the best of me for the long term, for the team and for the season.
Q: Some people have mentioned you as an MVP candidate. What do you think of that?
GORE: I really don’t look into the media. I’m just happy what we’re doing as a team. We’re 8-1, 9-1. 9-1? 8-1 (laughs).
Q: Are you guaranteeing 9-1?
GORE: Noooo (laughs). No, we’re 8-1 and we’re doing it as a team and we’ve still got room to grow and we have a good team over here. Happy about there. We’re in the driver seat right now and we want to keep that. How we will keep it is working hard every day, believing in ourselves, believing in our coaches, and we’ll get it done.
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