Frank Gore thinks he still has plenty to offer

[Billy Buffalo]

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The Jets didn’t sign Frank Gore to be a lead back, but he still thinks he can be one.

The veteran running back said he’s convinced he would have topped 1,000 rushing yards last year for the Bills, if the team hadn’t made the switch to Devin Singletary midseason.

“I feel like if they would’ve let me play, I would’ve had over 1,000,” Gore said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. “I jumped out there. I was having a great year. Young Singletary, a young back, will be very talented. He’ll do great thing as long as he keeps working — and I know he will. I understand they drafted him and it’s a business. They had to get him ready.

“But I felt like the games I did play, I did some good things to show people I could play.”

Gore rushed for 422 yards in the first seven games, a pace which would have left him just short of 1,000 (after being replaced by Singletary, he finished with a career-low 599).

But the 37-year-old has topped 1,000 yards nine times in his career, so it’s probably not wise to doubt him. He has more rushing yards (6,508) since turning 30 than any back in league history, and is third on the league’s all-time rushing list.

Now, he’s backing up Le'Veon Bell in New York, but still thinks he has plenty to offer.

“I know the situation here, too,” Gore said. “We have a great back in Le’Veon who has done great things and still can play this game. I know that he’s our lead dog. My goal is to do whatever it takes when my number is called to help this team be successful. . . .

“Like I tell Le’Veon, when you touch the age of 28, they kind of write you off. My mindset got stronger and stronger. Every time I’m on the field, I try to show people it doesn’t matter what your age is. As long as you love the game and respect the game and go hard in the off season and make every day like it’s your last, you can do it.”

And few have gone as hard, for as long, as Gore.