49ers Blog and Q&A

Attention fantasy football nuts the world over: Frank Gore says that his recent hand injury in no way affects his goal of rushing for more than 2,000 yards this season.

"As long as I'm playing, that never changes," said Gore who spoke to local reporters for the first time since breaking a bone in his hand more than two weeks ago.

For the record, Gore said he broke the bone that extends down from his middle finger during a blocking drill. The finger got caught awkwardly in the opposing player's pad. In Gore's words: "A freak thing."

He said he thought he'd return to practice in a "couple of weeks" but said he didn't know whether he'd play in the preseason finale Aug. 30 against San Diego. His counterpart in that game, LaDainian Tomlinson certainly won't play that day or in any other preseason game, but Gore said that gives him little comfort.

"It's different," said Gore, who admitted that he loves to practice. "He's practicing, but he's not playing the games. It's different for me. I'm not practicing or playing."

Other training camp notes

Receiver Darrell Jackson sat out the morning practice but will be back for the afternoon session. Mike Nolan said he didn't want Jackson and fellow starting receiver Arnaz Battle missing the same practice - it throws off Alex Smith's rhythm. Battle will be out this afternoon.

Nolan said last week that cornerback Walt Harris sat out Monday's game against Denver because of "preferential treatment." It turns out that Harris has a calf bruise that is more bothersome than the team originally believed. Nolan didn't think there would be any long-term effects, but Harris missed Wednesday's practices.

Delanie Walker came out of the weight room looking just as bulky and puffed up as fellow tight end Vernon Davis. Ok, nearly as bulky. Walker said he is up to 240 pounds after arriving in Santa Clara last year as a 228-pound rookie. A lot of that new weight is in his legs so that he can better brace himself against linebackers and defensive ends.

Nolan said that Gore probably would be the team's short-yardage back this season but that he was interested to see how Michael Robinson evolves in that area.

Joe Nedney kicked half a dozen or so field goals from between 39 and 42 yards Wednesday morning. The only one that wasn't good - wide right - was from 41 yards. Battle was the holder on some of the kicks.

Smith followed up a nice performance Monday night with a good practice Wednesday. He hit Davis on a nice touchdown pass over Brandon Moore on one play. His best pass, however, was to Battle in the corner of the end zone. Battle made a finger-tip grab over rookie Tarell Brown, who had good coverage on the play.

-- Matt Barrows