Not that Gore has ever needed extra incentive

Frank Gore doesn't see turning 30 as a bad thing, even if it's the age when most NFL running backs start to decline.

If anything, the San Francisco 49ers' career rushing leader has embraced the milestone and sees it as another means of motivation.

``I love it,'' Gore said Thursday outside of the 49ers' locker room.

``I feel like every year it's something with me. I have to overcome everything, every year. Now that I'm 30 I just have to keep working and training hard.''

Not that Gore has ever needed extra incentive.

Whether it was being bypassed in the 2005 draft when he was the sixth running back selected or the string of injuries he's endured and overcome since then, Gore has always felt the need to prove people wrong.

The 49ers clearly know Gore's value and have limited his participation in the offseason workouts, including this week's three-day minicamp.

San Francisco hopes the time off will help keep Gore fresher for the regular season. He's topped 1,000 yards in six of the past seven years, but he's also had a tendency to wear down late in the season.

Since the end of the 2009 season, Gore has failed to record a 100-yard game in the months of November and December. He rebounded to top that mark twice in the playoffs last season, including in the 49ers' Super Bowl loss to Baltimore when Gore ran for 110 yards and a touchdown.

That wasn't enough to silence the critics. And when Gore turned 30 on May 14, the doubts seemed to increase.

Even his spot on a recently released list of the top 100 players in the NFL didn't sit well with the ninth-year veteran. Gore was No. 32.

``They said he's turning 30 and he might not have (any) more left,'' Gore said. ``I like that type of stuff. Whenever (the 49ers) let me get on the field, I'm going to go hard and prove everybody wrong again.''

Just when Gore will be on the field is the question.

While he's done some light individual work, the 49ers have not let him take part in any on-field practices. He was a spectator at practice Thursday and likely won't put on pads until San Francisco opens training camp in July.

That led to speculation that Gore might be nursing an injury. But when questioned about it on Thursday, Gore was as elusive as he has been on the field.

``I'm cool, I'm good,'' he said. ``I'm just listening to (head trainer Jeff Ferguson). He told me he didn't want me doing anything right now, and I'm listening. I'm just getting my body back. I want to be fresh whenever I get back on the field.''

Keeping Gore fresh is critical considering the health of some of San Francisco's other running backs.

Kendall Hunter, the top backup behind Gore, is still mending from a torn Achilles tendon he suffered last season. Rookie Marcus Lattimore, one of the team's two fourth-round draft picks, is also trying to come back after an injury-filled college career that included a career-threatening right knee injury in 2012.

Gore and Lattimore have formed a kinship of sorts because of their similar histories. Gore suffered serious injuries to both knees while in college before rebounding to become a four-time Pro Bowl running back for the 49ers.

``He's a good kid,'' Gore said of Lattimore. ``I went through the same thing, being one of the best backs at the school and getting drafted late in the rounds and you don't know if you could get back to (being) you. I'm pulling for him.''

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Under LeBeau, the Steelers have consistently ranked among the best defenses in the league

There are questions every year about whether Dick LeBeau will retire as the Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator. And, every year, he returns to direct one of the top defenses in the NFL.

Asked about his future at the Steelers' mandatory minicamp Wednesday, the 75-year-old LeBeau was noncommittal, saying, "I don't think, because of the situation I'm in, it would be very productive to think about it. I go one day at a time really and one year at a time and feel blessed that I'm still in the game and surrounded with young people that are working hard. I don't worry too much about the future. Some of us don't have as much future as some of the others."

The speculation of LeBeau retiring has increased since January 2012, when linebackers coach Keith Butler turned down the opportunity to become the Indianapolis Colts' defensive coordinator. Butler is considered the coordinator-in-waiting because of his experience with the Steelers and knowledge of their 3-4 defense.

Under LeBeau, the Steelers have consistently ranked among the best defenses in the league. Over the past five seasons, the Steelers have finished No. 1 in fewest yards allowed and fewest points allowed three times. Last season, Pittsburgh allowed 275.8 yards per game, which was 15 yards per game fewer than any other defense in the NFL.

Some suggest the Steelers haven't been the most dominating defense. Pittsburgh has struggled to generate consistent pressure on the quarterback as well as turnovers the past two years.

Still, linebacker LaMarr Woodley doesn't think he will see LeBeau retire during his playing days.

"It's like Paterno at Penn State," Woodley said.

What Woodley admires most about LeBeau is his knowledge of the game.

"Not only from his playing experience from all of those years and all of those years from being a coach, he's speaking from both sides," Woodley said. "The thing I like about him is when he makes a play call, he does it off top of his head. He doesn't actually look at his sheet and do it."

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The NFL wants a new stadium in Los Angeles

 
 
The NFL is interested in putting on more games in London, and that's terrific. Only it should be interested in putting on more games in Los Angeles first.
I know, the league wants to tap into markets that aren't oversaturated, and Europe qualifies. Plus, Europe is crazy about football. Except their football is what we call soccer, and, sorry, but everything in London becomes an Avis next to soccer.
But that's not the point. This is: L.A. is the second biggest market in the United States, a metropolitan area that once had two teams, and it should have another. Logic says an existing team moves there, with San Diego the most commonly mentioned, but logic has been telling us that for years.
The hangup? L.A. doesn't have a suitable stadium, which is where London comes in. The NFL annually holds games in Wembley Stadium, and that seems to work ... or, at least, work better than the Rose Bowl or L.A. Coliseum. The NFL wants a new stadium in Los Angeles, but there's none on the horizon. So it cultivates London instead?
Please.
We know London can support a team. Heck, it could support two. The question is: Will it? NFL Europe was a nice idea, except it didn't fly ... and it didn't fly because there was lukewarm support for marginal football. So, let's say Jacksonville moves to London. You think people embrace one of the league's bottom feeders just because the game is a novelty?
Football is part of the fabric of this country. It's not part of anything in London, and I have a hard time believing you win over soccer fans to a sport that is unfamiliar and relatively slow next to soccer. Just because football is a huge success here doesn't mean it becomes a huge success in another world.
That's another way of telling Roger Goodell to go west, young man.
It has been nearly two decades since the L.A. area had pro football, and it's unfathomable to think the NFL isn't there now. But it's more unfathomable to think the NFL seems more interested in London now than it is Los Angeles.