SANTA CLARA – We were sitting in little school chairs facing each other, alone in the media tent, elbows resting on our wooden foldout desks.

I asked the coach, “If I say Frank Gore is a player with a great heart, do you know what I mean by that?”

The coach sat up in his chair, elbows off the desk now. He said, “Great heart?” as if he hadn’t heard me correctly. “Yeah, I know what great heart is. I only played the game for 9 years.”

Tom Rathman used to be a fullback in the ‘80s and ‘90s. He played 8 of his 9 seasons for the 49ers under legendary head coaches Bill Walsh and George Seifert. Now, Rathman is the 49ers’ running backs coach. He got the job in January, 2009, which means he’s worked with Gore for almost four years.

“He does have great heart,” Rathman said, getting back to Gore. “It means a lot to him. And that’s what you talk about when you talk about ‘great heart.’ It’s about what does the game mean to you? He puts everything that he has into those football games. You talk to him after the game and you know that he’s spilled it. He’s not going to have anything left in the tank when it’s all said and done. Those are the type of guys you love to coach.”

Gore is 29 years old, elderly for a running back, but he’s off to the best start of his professional career, averaging 6.1 yards per carry – third-best in the NFL. To put that in perspective, he averaged 2.5 yards per carry over the first two games last season.

I asked Rathman why Frank is having such a strong start this season. What factors go into that?

Rathman: “I think he’s got a better understanding of what we’re trying to do on the offensive side of the ball. With the new system in last year, I think players were trying to identify what it was. Now we’ve got one year under our belts and the players do understand what we’re trying to get accomplished.”

Flashback 15 minutes. I’m in the locker room. Here comes Gore, walking through slowly. Frank, why are you playing so well this season?

Before I could get the words out of my mouth, Gore said, “My O line’s doing a great job. Our coordinator puts us in great situations to have us be successful. I think that’s the reason.”

Gore, eager to pass praise onto his teammates.

Back to Rathman in the media tent. I asked him what skills does Frank have that are special?

Rathman said, “You talk about – and it’s really shown up this year – being able to set up a run and make a defender miss in space. He’s still got that creativity as a runner. You talk about his pass blocking. I don’t think there’s a better guy doing that. Frank does not have any weaknesses. Everything he does, he does it well.”

Is Gore still improving?

Gore thinks he is: “Yeah, I feel that. As long as you’re playing this game, you’ve got to keep improving. When you feel like you’re not getting better anymore, you shouldn’t play the game anymore.”

Rathman disagrees. He said: “I don’t think he’s improving, but I still think he’s got a lot left in the tank. When you’ve played in the league six, seven years, hopefully you’ve reached your peak. That was Bill Walsh’s big emphasis. I don’t think Frank’s an ascending player. I think he’s a consistent player, and that’s really all you ask for. Consistency.”

Would Bill Walsh have wanted the current Frank, the 29-year-old Frank, on his football team?

Rathman: “Sure he would have. You look at his performances, his consistency, what he brings to the table not only on the field but off the field – Frank has really grown up over the last four years. A very mature player now. Understands the game, understands big picture.”

Rathman had to go. I thanked him for his time, shook his hand and said, Oh, by the way, I’m Lowell Cohn’s son. He says hi.

Rathman said, “Tell your dad I said hello. I’ve been around him many years, since back in the day. Ask him if I know what heart is.”

SANTA CLARA – The transcript of Greg Roman’s Thursday press conference, courtesy of the 49ers.

Opening Statement:

“Getting ready for a good Detroit team, playoff team. The strength of their front, probably lies with their front four, they bring a lot of D-linemen to the game. They roll them through there to keep them fresh. There’s times when they’ll load up the front, it’s no secret. Kind of an old school group, here we go. It’s man coverage, let’s play football. Tough, aggressive defense, attacking style. Pretty multiple relative to what they were when we played them a year ago. They’ve got a lot of different schemes now on defense. Got a one week lead in here, so we are sprinting to get ready for this game against a really good team. Any questions?”

What’s your secret for playing turnover-free football?

“There is no secret. There is no secret to that. It’s everything. We preach it, but we don’t preach it to the point of suffocating people with it. Everybody understands what we’re trying to get done. I think our guys understand and we’ve got great leadership with [RB] Frank Gore for example, in terms of being very secure with the ball. We emphasize ball security, how to hold a football, how the defense tries to strip the ball. We do all the different things to educate the players on what’s coming at them, and then it’s really smart play by the quarterback.”

In this NFL era, how does a team go six games without committing a turnover? Especially your offense, when you’re going in and out, it seems like that would increase the margin for error as far (Inaudible)

“It’s every man’s responsibility when he’s on the field. Everybody’s got a job to do. Anybody that handles the football understands that they’ve got the collective fate of the team in their hands. Whether they’re in, they’re out, they’re in the whole game, that’s of no consequence. If you’re in the game and you have the ball it’s your job to protect it. So, it’s that simple. It’s a credit to our players that have played in those six games. I’m not sure where that stands or ranks or what not, of playing that length without turning the football over. I don’t understand where it ranks in the historical sense.”

It would be an NFL record if you guys don’t turn the ball over this game.

“Ok. Well, historic then. It’s a credit to the players, it’s a credit to the players.”

What kind of role, if any, does your defense play in helping the offense in practices?

“It’s a tremendous, tremendous role. As we said earlier, as iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another. Never truer words than on the football field. [LB] Patrick Willis, great at stripping the ball. He’s gotten us a few times this camp. Our DB’s, very good, always attacking the football. Huge, can’t emphasize that enough. When it happens in training camp, as a coach you’re almost a little bit happy because you can bring it to light, a little bit happy, not a lot, a little bit. But it’s a great opportunity to emphasize how a defender is going to attack the football.”

I know that the Lions, the defensive front is going to approach you the same, I mean, they are who they are, differently, but they are who they are. As you watch the film from the end of their last season, also their first game, how many wrinkles and changes are you seeing? How much more differently do you prepare for them than before?

“I think they’ve added a lot of different looks to their defense. It’s something we’ve just got to prepare for. I think there’s more to prepare for. There’s no telling when they’ll pull it out. They line their D-line up in different configurations. They pressure more, they’ll blitz you more. Not a heavy blitz team, but at any point in time they’ll dial up a blitz. So, you’ve got to be ready for it. I think it’s really added to their profile. They don’t blitz nearly as much as the last team we played, but they definitely give you a lot of different looks.”

Regarding the same defensive front four, you talk about a number of things. Are they more of a pass rush or do you see them more as better at run stopping?

“I think they’re good at both. I think they’re scheme compliments – I mean they are rushing, they are attacking. They are trying to destroy blocks, destroy blocking schemes on the way to the quarterback. Just because you’re in pass rush mode, doesn’t mean you’re not playing the run because you’re getting penetration, you’re freeing up, you’re getting an offensive lineman’s shoulders turned, you’re freeing up linebackers. If you have four D-lineman that are screaming up the field, and then you’ve got four linebackers, or three linebackers and a safety sitting right in there behind them, that’s a pretty darn good run defense. So, it’s not just hey these guys are up the field, they’re just playing the pass, not so fast. They do a great job of destroying blocking schemes, getting penetration and when they choose to play a bunch of eight-man fronts, there’s always somebody sitting there, unblocked, to try to make the tackle.”

How much does G Leonard Davis change when he comes in, obviously we saw him block on that right end a lot as an extra tight end, how much flexibility does he give you when you face this defense?

“Well Leonard’s a big, physical, –just he’s big and physical. He’s a big, massive, powerful man. And when you get him in there, he gives you an opportunity to maybe get a size matchup on somebody, and take a really great offensive lineman like Leonard and get him into the game. Get him participating, getting him having a role towards us winning. Leonard is a very important part of the team and he’s a massive guy that’s played a lot of snaps of football in the NFL. It’s great to be able to get him involved in the winning effort.”

Obviously you bring in a lot of extra linemen, did you pick that up from someone, just kind of loading and loading your line with huge people?

“It started at the high school level, yeah. Just said, hmm, what would happen if we did this? It worked pretty good. We did it in college. It’s also a great tool to develop young linemen, especially in college. At Stanford we did. We’d get the younger guys that were promising, give them a chance to get game experience and start their development so the first time they’re out on the filed it’s not, whoa. It’s a really great step in the development of a lineman.” 

Was that back in New Jersey?

“Yes.”

Is there something to be said for getting everybody involved in a game? Kind of increases the camaraderie in the sense that everybody contributed to the victory?

“I think you could make the case for that, for sure. But the reality is, is everybody that’s involved in the game, is in there for a reason and we feel they can do what we’re asking them to do. We’re not going to put guys in positions they’re not the best at, or we really feel good about. I think the net effect of that is, now everybody has a role, everybody has a chance to contribute, everybody’s excited about the week of practice. Getting ready for their role, and supporting roles, in case somebody else had to get out of the game. I think it just adds to the, like you said, I thought you put it well, adds to the camaraderie and how everybody has a role in helping the team win. Thankfully we’ve got a lot of really good players that we can do that with.”

What makes RB Frank Gore so effective, because he’s not flashy? Why is he so effective?

“I’ll tell you what, Frank is an unbelievable running back, unbelievable football player. He’s one of the most unique guys I’ve ever been around, in terms of, it gets thrown around a lot, but throwback, old school. Frank, we could go anywhere, chalk up a football field, pads, no pads, how you want to play it, let’s go. Frank’s going to play and he’s going to compete. He’s an unbelievably tough, passionate, competitive [player]. He’s got an incredible will to win that he wears on his sleeve. There’s only one Frank Gore. His running style is very unique, can’t say that I’ve quite seen anybody quite like him, with his size, weight and then what you see on the field, he’s just so unique. He’s got so much quickness, power, and just short area of vision. He’s just got one of the strongest wills to succeed that you’ll find. So, I think that’s the best I can do quickly to sum up Frank. He’s a special guy. Really, we all feel really glad to have the opportunity work with him.”

Short area of vision, you mean seeing it right away?

“Right away, quick decisions. He just has a feel. His brain and his feet work in tandem. I’m not a scientist or a neurologist, but his brain, those pulses get quickly to his feet.”

Is that why you ran the ball with Frank against Detroit last year? Has that been the template for the way you want to run the ball against everybody and is that kind of the option he gave you for guys? Anything you want to do against them?

“Every week’s different. You’re always going to try to run what your running back’s good at, what you feel your offensive line can block. And it comes down to, guys’ scheme is so overrated. It’s all about guys knowing what to do, how to do it and having the want to to get it done. And that’s what we hang our hat on, is executive and want to. And scheme is way overrated. I don’t care what play you call. It doesn’t matter. Ultimately the players make it work.”

Can you go back to Frank Gore for a second and talk about how did it look on film, that touchdown run, how did that work other than spinning around on the sideline?

“It was really good job, on that particular play, [G] Daniel Kilgore, [G] Leonard Davis sealing off the edge. [FB]Bruce Miller came around with [G] Mike Iupati, did a great job of sealing. Bruce Miller did a great job. He forced [Packers CB Charles] Woodson to basically hurdle him, which freed up Frank. And then Frank just made a guy miss and spun in the end zone. Wasn’t perfect, but it was a great run. A lot of good things happened on it. We loved the end result.”

There was a lot of talk in the offseason about whether Alex Boone would be playing guard. How did he do in his first regular season game?

“He did some things that were great. We were all thrilled to see some instinctive things he did. Played physical, played to his personality, which is aggressive, passionate, old school, nasty. He had a lot of fun out there. Boone loves playing football. He’s a beauty. But he played really well, really, really well and did some really outstanding things in that game. So it was a good start for Alex and got a big challenge this week with this front four coming in.”

Not to harp on this subject, but QB Alex Smith has the team record now, having 185 passes without an interception. How extraordinary is that and how does it be a part of your guy’s mantra?

“It’s huge and it’s a credit to Alex. Alex is a guy with a very, very strong, he’s a high, high character person. He is not the person who is going to get led off the cliff with the rest of the lemmings. He understands the purpose of his job is to distribute the ball, execute the offense and help the team win. He’s got an innate feel for risk management on the fly. But as well, when I say that I mean, he knows when to be aggressive, when to let it rip, and when to make a certain throw. It might be a little bit high and away, low and away, away from the defender. There’s been a lot of very, very small instances over the course of the time you talk about where he’s had just really, really, really good ball placement, relative to the defenders leverage. A lot of that goes unseen, but it’s all calculated by him. It’s really a credit to him. He’s a winner. And done an incredible job, historic, let’s keep it up, let’s keep that going.”

Some things I forgot to mention about the 49ers’ performance against the Packers: Alex Smith and Greg Roman called brilliant running plays.

What Smith did: Each time the Packers brought an extra linebacker or a cornerback to the line of scrimmage, Alex Smith audibled to a running play away from the blitz. These audibles worked beautifully. Peyton Manning couldn’t have made better pre-snap adjustments. Smith’s were near perfect.

Before the season, Roman and Jim Harbaugh called Smith an expert in the offense. The audibles he called against the Packers were a prime indication of what they were talking about.

What Roman did: He brought extra offensive linemen onto the field to force the Packers’ defense to load up the middle, get them to play “in a phone booth” as it were, and then Roman called runs to the outside. This worked every time, and the Packers never adjusted to it, never seemed to know what the 49ers were doing. Roman called this play in the fourth quarter right after NaVorro Bowman intercepted Aaron Rodgers. Frank Gore bounced the run around the right side for a 23-yard touchdown. Gore is not a great outside runner at his age, but it didn’t matter because the Packers just could not stop that play. Kudos to Roman for coming back to it again and again.

Roman also figured out a brilliant way to run up the middle. He spread out the Packers defense by lining up extra wide receivers instead of extra offensive linemen, and then called runs right up the gut. These also worked. Again the Packers didn’t have a clue.

Roman recognized the Packers were expecting inside runs when the Niners had heavy personnel, and outside runs when the Niners were spread out. Roman used those expectations  against them and as a result, he completely outcoached the Packers’ defensive coordinator, Dom Capers.