SANTA CLARA – When Frank Gore joked Thursday that he could have played quarterback at Penn State, he wasn't just needling fellow running back Michael Robinson, who did play quarterback for the Nittany Lions.
He also was tweaking his Sunday opponent. In their most recent game, the New England Patriots defense had a terrible time handling Miami running back Ronnie Brown, who lined up six times as a quarterback. Brown took direct snaps while in the shotgun position, scoring touchdowns on runs of two, five and 62 yards. He also threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Anthony Fasano and handed off twice to Ricky Williams for 31 yards.
New England coach Bill Belichick admitted this week that his defense had to be wary of similar tactics the rest of the season.
"Oh, I think we definitely have to be ready for it down the road," Belichick said. "We've seen it before. We saw it, worked against it with Leon Washington with the Jets. (LaDainian) Tomlinson in San Diego did that at the end of the year. Gore has done it. … Anytime you get hurt with something like that, you've got to anticipate that it is a possibility that somebody else could do it again."
Gore has taken a direct snap once this year – in the third quarter of the team's game against Detroit. The setup was similar to what the Dolphins used against New England. Quarterback J.T. O'Sullivan went in motion and lined up at wide receiver while Gore took the snap from the shotgun.
He gained only three yards on third and 11, but the 49ers served notice to the rest of the league that the direct snap is in their repertoire.
The player who would really give Belichick pause is Robinson, who threw for 2,350 yards as a senior at Penn State. But Gore said he's no slouch when it comes to slinging the ball downfield.
"Mike's got a pretty good arm," Gore said. "I'm close to him. I told him I could've played quarterback at Penn State, too."
Injuries – With linebacker Manny Lawson (hamstring) unlikely to play this week, coach Mike Nolan said that Tully Banta-Cain had a "better than favorable" chance of playing this week. Banta-Cain has been inactive for the first four games.
• New England receiver Wes Welker (groin) was added to the injury list. Welker, who leads the Patriots in receptions and receiving yards, was limited in practice Thursday.
Read Matthew Barrows' 49ers blog at www.sacbee.com/ninersblog.
