The shelf life for running backs in the modern NFL is short.

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ALAMEDA , Calif. (AP) — Get drafted, start playing and hope to get a second contract. By the time most backs reach their 30s, they’re typically out of the league living in retirement.Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch are defying those odds, still producing at the respective ages of 35 and 32. The two will share a field on Sunday when Lynch’s Oakland Raiders (0-2) visit Gore and the Miami Dolphins (2-0).“That’s my man. Marshawn is my man,” Gore said this week. “I know him. He’s a friend of mine. I love the way he plays the game of football. I’m happy that he came back because I knew that he still could play the game. I’m happy that a dude who came in back when I came in is still going. That’s a plus for us.”Gore has carried 18 times for 86 yards this season. He moved into fourth place on the career rushing list last week, passing Hall of Famer Curtis Martin with 14,112 yards in his career.Only Hall of Famers Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton and Barry Sanders are ahead of Gore, who has never led the NFL in rushing but has 12 straight seasons with at least 800 yards. Only Smith was more consistent in his career with 13 straight 800-yard seasons.“He is one of my favorites,” said Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who faced Gore twice when he coached in Tampa Bay more than a decade ago. “He has been able to adapt and prove that he can play in any offense. He’s been one of the great two-back I (formation) runners that I’ve seen in my time as a coach. Then (QB) Alex Smith came along and they morphed into a shotgun operation. He played with (QB Colin) Kaepernick, he proved that he could play in that style of offense. Did some really good things, quietly, in Indianapolis, I think. It’s really cool to see him back in Miami where it all started.”Lynch, who sat out the 2016 season , has 29 carries for 106 yards the first two weeks and has scored touchdowns in each game. On Oakland’s opening drive of the season, Lynch scored on a 10-yard run against the Rams. He was stood up at the 3 but still managed to bowl his way into the end zone with help from a rugby-style push from his offensive linemen.“I know this, he’s extremely hard to tackle still,” Dolphins coach Adam Gase said. “He almost popped out a big one last week again. He’s a dangerous guy to deal with. He’s a big man that does not like to touch the ground. I’ve seen him way too much it seems like.”The Raiders want to see even more out of Lynch this week as they try for their first win of the season. He went from 11 carries in the opener to 18 last week in Denver, but still has only one run longer than 10 yards.Right tackle Donald Penn said that’s more of a reflection on the way the line has blocked than how Lynch has run.“We need to help him out a lot more,” Penn said. “We have to be more consistent. We kind of have that roller-coaster thing going again, like we have in the past. But when we’re consistent he’s looking really good. But he is doing a lot of good things for us. Our main thing is to just try and get him to the second level. When he gets to the second level, I would bet on him against anybody.”The only other running back age 32 or older with more than five carries the first two weeks is 33-year-old Adrian Peterson, who has 37 carries for 116 yards in Washington so far.This is not new for Gore and Lynch, who were the two most productive running backs in their 30s last year, with Gore leading the old-timers with 961 yards and Lynch close behind at 891.Gore has rushed for 5,273 yards since turning 30 in 2013, a total topped only by Smith (5,789) and John Riggins (5,683). Gore has a chance to top that list by the end of this season.“I still want to have success,” Gore said. “I still feel good. I still feel I can play with the young guys. Like I said , when my number gets called, I try my best to make some plays.”NOTES: Raiders DT P.J. Hall is out for Sunday’s game with an ankle injury. … CB Nick Nelson is questionable with an injured hamstring. BOURBONNAIS, Ill. (AP)Not even the interceptions seem to frustrate quarterback Mitchell Trubisky right now. Rather than worry about those picks, he’s busy picking up the nuances of the offense under new coach Matt Nagy.Trubisky is throwing deeper in training camp more consistently, and any interceptions are all a part of the process as he gets used to a variety of new targets.”I mean, what’s not to like about this offense?” Trubisky said.”I love it. There’s a lot of options.We throw the ball around a lot and we’re going to balance it with a great running game.”Trubisky’s passes haven’t always found the target, as Thursday night’s preseason opener with Baltimore in the Hall of Fame Game approaches. For instance, he threw two interceptions in three plays earlier in the week to cornerback Prince Amukamara. Deiondre’ Hall intercepted another pass Friday.Trubisky, however, feels throwing it deep now to build timing will only make big plays easier later. And he credits Nagy’s practice approach for instilling confidence.”Lets me go out and play and be myself and not worry about mistakes,” Trubisky said. ”But we do go in the film room and correct them.”There is a big emphasis on not making the same mistake twice. Just go out there and play freely and let your instincts take over.And then when we make mistakes, just go back and learn from it. It allows me to go out there and be myself and play freely,” he said.Trubisky doesn’t want to convey the impression he’s laughing off practice interceptions.”I’m always mad when I throw an interception, but at the same time I don’t care what anybody thinks,” Trubisky said. ”I know what I’ve got to do. I made a lot of great throws. I made some bad throws and we’re testing and we’re getting better every day.”Those (practice) mistakes are going to come – as long as we learn from them. It’s not a game, so it doesn’t really matter what everybody thinks and what everybody sees ,” he said.When Trubisky broke into the lineup in Week 5 last year under former coach John Fox, the emphasis was on playing it safe and operating a basic offense.His final yards-per-pass attempt average of 6.6 ranked 45th among all NFL passers.It’s changing for Trubisky, the second pick in the 2017 draft, as he learns aspects of a more complex passing attack on daily basis.”We’re throwing so much at these guys, where it almost feels like they’re in a tornado right now,” Nagy said. ”There’s so many things being thrown at him.”Nagy liked the way Trubisky handled making several checks at the line of scrimmage in Friday’s practice.”He’s adjusting to any negative-type plays, so if there’s an interception, there’s a screw-up in the play call, in the huddle he calls the wrong play, he regroups,” Nagy said.Trubisky has just 25 starts as a quarterback since he played high school ball, so the inexperience factor must be overcome.Bears receivers say they’re seeing a passer more composed under pressure than could be expected from someone with little experience.”He’s not frantic and things like that even when you get zero blitz and he’s throwing to the hot read,” wide receiver Taylor Gabriel said. ”I’m impressed and I’m excited.”There’s plenty to pick up in the attack for everyone.Many of Trubisky’s targets might line up at a number of positions, further complicating the assignment. Gabriel, running back Tarik Cohen and tight end Trey Burton all have plays from the backfield, split out wide or in the slot.Burton , a member of last year’s Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, is encouraged by the way Trubisky and the receivers have built a rapport.”Not as many mental errors as I would expect from my previous offenses,” Burton said.It’s a relatively slow process overall, nonetheless, and the bulk of the pressure is going to be on Trubisky to be ready for the Sept. 9 opener at Green Bay.”We’re building this puzzle right now, and each day we’re trying to take one piece of the puzzle and put it up there and then before you know it, at the end of this thing, you have that puzzle put together,” Nagy said.NOTES: Rookie pass rusher Kylie Fitts missed practice time Friday with an arm injury. … G Kyle Long was given the day off to rest.… LB Jonathan Anderson and OL Dejon Allen engaged in the first fight of camp before being separated. … First-round pick LB Roquan Smith remains unsigned. Former Bears coach Dave Wannstedt visited Bourbonnais for the first time and called Smith’s holdout a selfish act. ”For a rookie to hold out because of some of the fine print (in a contract) it’s pretty selfish, I think, from an agent standpoint to do that,” Wannstedt said. ”I mean, this kid needs to be here. He needs to be practicing. These are valuable days. They play a preseason game a week from now. And you do not get these days back.”—

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