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Colts Frank Gore is Looking Forward to 6, 7 Man Boxes With New Team

By Luke Schultheis

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Freshly signed Indianapolis Colts running back Frank Gore caught up with the media today at the team’s OTA’s to discuss his newfound comfort zone and growing familiarity with his new team.

Among one of Gore’s most interesting responses was that he’s really looking forward to rushing against 6, 7 man defensive boxes as a complementary piece to the Colts offense, rather than the 8, 9 man boxes he frequently saw playing for the San Francisco 49ers as the focal point of their offense:

"“I can’t wait. Just knowing that you’re going into a game, not seeing 8-man, 9-man boxes,” said Gore. “This will be the first time in my career, where it’s a partly filled box. I just want to see how it really is with 6, 7 in a box. I’m excited about that.”"

The 49ers featured a power rushing attack with dual threat quarterback Colin Kaepernick, while the Colts will be a prolific passing offense first under Andrew Luck, running attack second. In theory, this will enable Gore to see more “shell defenses”, as opposing defenses won’t be able to commit safeties and additional help to the run because of the fear of Colts wideouts like T.Y. Hilton, Andre Johnson, Phillip Dorsett, and Donte Moncrief beating them deep behind Luck’s arm.

December 20, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore (21) before the game against the San Diego Chargers at Levi

There should be much more green and open space for Gore to operate in, rushing for the Colts. While Gore is unlikely to rush for the 1,106 yards he rushed for last season purely because of more limited reps, he’s still a safe bet to flirt with surpassing 1,000 rushing yards yet again. He should find that rushing for those 1,000 yards may be a bit easier too at times, as defenses will be forced to play the pass instead of the run, even if the Colts offensive line isn’t the most savvy run blocking group.

For the Colts, the team hasn’t really had a strong, inside the tackles presence in the “Andrew Luck era of Colts football” like Gore provides. It an interesting wrinkle that they have not yet had, and it gives their offense much better balance as opposing defenses won’t be able to overcommit to the pass because of the threat of Gore on the ground. Maintaining such balance for success is something that Gore apparently knows all too well:

"“I know from being in this league that you have to have weapons,” said Gore. “You got to be able to run the ball also and throw the ball, and I think we’ve got the weapons in the center and also outside. I think as long as we keep working and just take it one play at a time, do all the small things, we’ll have a great chance of being successful this year.”"

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