Running back Frank Gore is still going strong at 35. He also could be going strong at 36. And maybe at 37.
For now, Gore is taking his career a season at a time.
“I’m still year-to-year,” Gore told Indianapolis reporters on Wednesday. “I’m going to really take a look at me after the season. Hopefully, I can try to finish strong and do whatever it takes to help my team be successful and also have individual success. I’m going to just evaluate myself and my body and see if I really want to do it again this offseason. I take it one year at a time.”
Gore is averaging 4.5 yards per carry, his highest number since 2012. But he’s on pace for only 844 rushing yards, which would be his lowest full-season total since his rookie year.
The future Hall of Famer has 14,554 career rushing yards, fourth on the all-time list. And this week he plays the Colts, a team with which he spent three seasons. Three difficult seasons. And now that the Colts are 5-5, Gore was asked whether he signed with the Colts three years too early.
“I can’t say that, man,” Gore said. “They were coming off the AFC Championship [game]. When you’re looking from the outside looking in, you don’t know what’s in the locker room until you get there. . . . When you’re playing with a bunch of injured guys, that’s tough in this league. It’s already hard to win when you’ve got guys healthy. So imagine when you don’t, especially the main guys who run the show. I had a great three years there. The organization was great. Great people. We were fighting. Things just didn’t go the way I was planning.”
For both the Dolphins and Colts, things are going fairly well, with both teams at 5-5. But the Colts are far hotter, with four straight victories. And Gore maybe wishes deep down he was still part of it.