Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando
Frank Gore's long touchdown runs against the Seahawks in Week 2 were very relevant to that game.
The runs are not so relevant in assessing how the 49ers' ground game has performed most of the time this season.
The Seahawks used eight-man fronts on defense against both carries. Gore gained 79 yards on one and 80 on the other.
Counting those runs, the 49ers are averaging 5.4 yards per carry on 49 runs when opponents put eight defenders in the box, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The per-carry average falls to 2.25 yards on 47 runs when we exclude the two exceptionally long runs.
The 49ers are averaging 3.7 yards per carry on 80 rushes when opponents place fewer than eight defenders near the line of scrimmage. The NFL average is 4.4 yards against fewer than eight defenders and 4.0 yards per carry against eight or more defenders.