FanHouse ThomasClayton

The San Francisco 49ers have won three of their past four games under interim head coach Mike Singletary, and a week ago helped play a major role in the outcome of the AFC East by pounding the New York Jets, 24-14. On Sunday, they can continue to play the role of spoiler for the AFC East when they travel to Miami, but they'll have to do it without the services of their best offensive player, running back Frank Gore.

Adam Schefter of NFL.com reports that Gore made the trip with the intentions of testing his injured ankle in warmups, but, obviously, won't be doing that.

Gore has rushed for 978 yards on 229 carries this season, while also hauling in 42 passes (second best on the team) for 367 yards. He's scored eight touchdowns for the 49ers this year.

In Gore's absence, San Francisco will be handing the ball off to seven-year veteran DeShaun Foster and Thomas Clayton, who was signed off the practice squad late this week. Foster has only carried the ball 37 times this season for 78 yards. That's 2.1 yards per carry. Yikes. I hope, for the 49ers sake, that Shaun Hill brings his "A" game today.

The last time the 49ers returned a punt or kickoff for a touchdown, Johnny Drama was still doing Viking Quest. OK, so it was really 2005, in Mike Nolan's first game as coach. But that was 31 games ago, and as this promising 49ers team gets ready to begin training camp, their return game once again appears to be in question.

Rookies and unproven entities Jason Hill and Thomas Clayton might get tries on the return teams, and Brandon Williams returns on punt duty. Last year Williams averaged 6.7 yards per return as part of a punt unit that ranked 17th in the league. It makes you wonder, in an era where teams are drafting players who specialize in nothing but returning the ball and an offseason which saw the 49ers improve at all levels of their defense and a few on offense, why the team didn't make a more concerted effort to address the position.

The truth is, they don't need to. I think the return game is being overemphasized and overrated because of the recent success of guys like Devin Hester. But the truth is, in the grand scheme of things, Hester only scored five touchdowns last season, and those supplemented a sterile offense. It's always helpful to have a reliable guy who can get every last yard possible in the return game, but a playmaker like Hester is unnecessary if you've got the pieces on offense. With an emerging monster in Frank Gore and a much-improved group of pass-catchers this season, the 49ers will be fine.