JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —Frank Gore continues to move up the charts.
With a 16-yard run in the third quarter of today's game against the Jaguars in Jacksonville, the veteran Indianapolis Colts running back moved past Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson into fifth place on the National Football League's all-time rushing list.
Gore on Sunday had already surpassed Pittsburgh Steelers great — and another Pro Football Hall of Famer — Jerome Bettis for sixth place on the all-time list. He entered the Jaguars game needing 27 rushing yards to move ahead of Bettis (13,662 career rushing yards) and 49 yards to pass Tomlinson (13,684).
Next up for Gore is Curtis Martin, who sits in fourth place with 14,101 yards. From there, Gore would need more than 1,000 additional yards to tie third-place Barry Sanders, who accumulated 15,269 rushing yards in his 10-year career with the Detroit Lions.
Gore said this past week he feels "blessed to be still playing" and contributing now in his 13th NFL season, and his third with the Colts.
"And I love to compete, and I'm still loving (it), I'm still having fun with the young guys, and I feel that I can still play this game," he said. "I'm still having fun, every time I get the opportunity to compete against other guys, it's doing something that I love."
Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said this past week that Gore's durability — today's game was his 104th consecutive start — is perhaps just as impressive as his continued production.
"I always had an appreciation for what (NFL running backs have) been able to do, especially a guy like Frank, who's obviously a very physical runner," Marrone said in a conference call with Indianapolis-area media members. "Not to put him against or to compare him to anyone else, but the numbers he's put out with the style that he runs is really a credit to him."
