Obviously, he is a great, great player. But is it possible that maybe they were leaning on him a little TOO much? I don't mean that the crazy high workload led to this injury (though I guess that's possible), but more that maybe they were using him as a little bit of a crutch. Maybe in a weird way their reliance on him was actually holding the offense back?
I'm sure you've all heard of the ewing theory, but in case you haven't: read this.
Basically, the theory states that when a team is written off following the loss of a star player, it usually has the exact opposite effect: the team actually plays BETTER without that player.
Do I think Brian Westbrook is a better player right now than Frank Gore? No, I don't. But that's not what this is about. I think the hidden advantage to this injury is that perhaps the offense will get opened up a little bit now. I really doubt there's anyone on the coaching staff stupid enough to give Anthony Dixon and Brian Westbrook the amount of work they were giving Frank Gore. (Though, to be fair, I've underestimated the stupidity of this coaching staff many times to my cost).
I think, when utilized properly, this offense is better with Gore on the field. But I'm not sure letting 1 guy account for nearly 40% of your yards gained is what I'd call being "utilized properly". They were leaning on Gore to the point of him being a crutch rather than a piece that helped the offense move along.
It's not like there's no talent at other postions- we saw what Vernon Davis can do last year, and we've seen my boy Crabtree make some out-STANDING catches this year. Maybe this injury opens the way for those guys to get more involved, and maybe Sing backs off on the "RUN AT ALL COSTS" mentality he obviously had (regardless of what he might say).
It will be interesting to see. I think Mike Johnson is a guy who has some innovative ideas, but who was maybe being hamstrung by his head coach's philosophy. Hopefully we'll maybe get to see some more imaginative offense now that they don't have Gore to use as a little bit of a whipping boy.
Oh, but the blitz pickup will probably be worse. Does that matter against the Packers? probably not, right?
