It's a quarterbacks' league, but the San Francisco 49ers continue to pound the ball at defenses like it's 1933.
Coach Jim Harbaugh lured in receivers Randy Moss and Mario Manningham in the offseason, but the new toys on offense were mere bit players in Sunday's 30-22 win over the Green Bay Packers. Nothing has changed in San Francisco. That's why Frank Gore's 23-yard touchdown gallop leads off our new weekly segment: Five runs that explain the weekend.
There's little mystery what the Packers are about to see on this play. Harbaugh stuffs no less than seven big bodies up at the line. It's all Gore from there. We heard about his role diminishing -- and we love Kendall Hunter -- but who does this better than Gore? No-bo-dy!
Adrian Peterson's status for the season opener was a pure mystery right up until game time. The Minnesota Vikings running back turned questions into answers in Sunday's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. After Peterson found his sea legs, we saw him heat up for his first of two touchdown runs. Just like that, the fine people of the North have their hero back.
Let's not forget the knife sunk deep into the heart of the New York Giants on Wednesday night by DeMarco Murray. The Dallas Cowboys running back appeared to be stopped once, twice, three times on this third-quarter run, but spun his way through Big Blue's defense for this 48-yard gem.
New England's Stevan Ridley flew under the radar this offseason, but he got the best of Tennessee's much-hyped Chris Johnsonin Sunday's win over the Titans.
Ridley does a little bit of everything, but here's his 1-yard touchdown burst in the third quarter that helped seal things up for Tom Brady and the boys.
The Buffalo Bills were waxed by the new York Jets on Sunday, but one bright spot was the play of C.J. Spiller, who replaced an injured Fred Jackson and rolled up 169 yards on the ground, including this 68-yard scoring burst.
Follow Marc Sessler on Twitter @MarcSesslerNFL.
