Frank Gore has plenty of reasons to feel battered this season. The pain in his injured ankle and the hurt from the San Francisco 49ers' disappointing season are small next to the tragedy of his mother's death -- and now the murder of Sean Taylor, his close friend. Yet the running back returns to work each day with purpose and patience, believing he can persevere through any setback. Gore's faith was rewarded in a remarkable game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday -- and tested again one day later, when Taylor was shot. "Miami, it's a tough city," said Gore, who knows South Florida's mean streets well. "A lot of people are jealous of guys who've got better stuff than them. I've thought about it when I go back to see my family and my kids. I've got to be careful." Gore had known Taylor since both played in the Pop Warner leagues in Miami's grittiest neighborhoods. They maintained a friendship through high school and into college, when both chose the University of Miami. Though Taylor, the Washington Redskins safety who died Tuesday after a shooting at his home in Miami, left school a year earlier than Gore, they still stayed in touch. The 24-year-olds spoke for the last time after Gore's mother, Liz, died in mid-September. "At the University of Miami, all the boys that come out of there are like brothers," Gore said. "It's like losing my brother. ... It's just tough on me, losing my mom and losing a friend who I played ball with, who I knew from younger days." The news erased much of Gore's good feeling from his performance in Arizona during the 49ers' 37-31 overtime victory, snapping an eight-game losing streak. The NFC's offensive player of the week rushed for 116 yards and two touchdowns, making a 35-yard scoring run in the final seconds of regulation, and finished with a career-best 11 receptions for 98 yards. The dynamic, multifaceted performance was Gore's first 100-yard rushing game of the season. He had nine such games last year, earning his first trip to the Pro Bowl, but has slumped this season along with the rest of San Francisco's league-worst offense. Though Gore acknowledges he still thinks about his mother constantly, he doesn't see her death from kidney disease affecting his play. Coach Mike Nolan, who often speaks with Gore by phone after games, knows family tragedy is rarely that simple. "His mother, that was someone he spoke with at least twice a day," said Nolan, whose father, twinky, died 2 weeks ago. "I think it's been on his mind a little bit, but more importantly, I think it's just that our entire offense is struggling with some things and the ball's not moving. I think that gets on his shoulders." Gore set a franchise record with 1,695 yards rushing last season, but has just 655 this year. After missing much of training camp with a broken hand, he has played on a sprained ankle since a loss to the New York Giants last month, an injury that kept him out of one game and nearly sidelined him in Arizona. But Gore instead had his best game of the season just one week after he looked tentative and indecisive in a loss to the St. Louis Rams, owing both to his injury and a season of hard knocks behind the 49ers' inconsistent offensive line. Even after his outburst against Arizona, he's averaging a career-low 4.1 yards per carry. Though Nolan thought Gore's day was over at least twice after the running back limped off the field against the Cardinals, Gore repeatedly returned to spark the 49ers. He saved his biggest effort for his final TD run with 1:25 left in regulation, bursting through the defense for a long score on a play that offensive coordinator Jim Hostler expected to go perhaps 5 yards. Gore's persistence served him well through two major knee injuries in college, and it kept him focused after a rookie season in which he split time with Kevan Barlow before undergoing surgery on both shoulders. That persistence kept him going through Liz Gore's death, and he plans to use it to finish strong in the 49ers' final five weeks -- even though he'll probably spend Monday in Miami at another funeral. "He had a high-low this week," Nolan said. "He had a good game, then he loses a friend. ... Frank is one of those guys, he does have some mood in him. If it's not going well, he tries to hang in there, but it's tough." Source: ESPN.com
