Curtis Martin Finished? 'Fraid Not
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by user Alanschech
In response to an article I wrote regarding Chad Pennington, someone commented that the New York Jets have an "over the hill running back". Curtis Martin, being on the plus side of 30, would be the running back in question. Is he over the hill? I couldn't be stronger in my feeling that he is absolutely not.
First of all, look at his career leading up to last year. He was Mr. Consistency. I think Curtis Martin running for 1,000 yards was just as expected as death or taxes. You put Martin on the field, you couldn't count on much else, but you could count on a thousand yard season. In 2004, Martin led the NFL in rushing for the first time in his career, with 1697 yards. You don't go from being a rushing champ to a has-been that quickly. I don't believe it.
Secondly, you absolutely have to look at last year's Jets season in 2 parts. You have to look at all the injuries and take them into account. As the quarterbacks started getting injured, the Jets weren't regarded as a passing threat. Nobody was scared of either Vinny Testaverde or Bollinger. It was not difficult to focus the gameplan on Curtis Martin.
You absolutely cannot consider Martin's season without taking into account the loss of Kevin Mawae. He had anchored the line for many years, and his loss in week 6 was devastating. And, it created such a slippery slope that by the end of the season, one player was in his original position from the start of the year. No running back can be expected to excel in that situation.
It bears out statistically as well. Take the the first six games, the games that Mawae was active and starting at center. In those games, Curtis Martin averaged 72.2 yards per game. If you extrapolate that out for an entire season, it comes out to approximately 1,155 yards, and I don't think anyone would say that Martin had lost a step if he had a year like that. Consequently, after Mawae was lost for the year, Martin averaged 45.5 yards per game. Definitely a relationship there.
Martin definitely fell off last year. You would have to be totally ignorant not to notice. I just believe that considering all of the circumstances, I don't think you can pin it on Martin losing it all. He's not done, and I believe he will come back strong in 2006.
Date
Thu 06/08/06, 7:25 pm EST
