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Jets | Martin to Get Much Needed Rest


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Jets | Martin to Get Much Needed Rest

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 13:11:51 -0700

Randy Lange, of the Bergen Record, reports New York Jets RB Curtis Martin (knee) was able to play during Week 7 despite a knee injury and head coach Herman Edwards noted how the running back needs time off to recover from the injury. "He's a little banged up. He's sore, no doubt about that," Edwards said of Martin, who has been listed on the team's injury report for four of five weeks this year. "This bye week will help him." The Jets have a Bye in Week 8.

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Bob Glauber

End nigh for wounded warrior

Oct 25, 2005

Through all the chaos surrounding the Jets - from Bill Parcells coming and going, to Al Groh coming and going, to Vinny Testaverde and then Chad Pennington and now to Testaverde again - the one constant has been Curtis Martin.

He has been the most reliable player in franchise history. Even more than Joe Namath, who gave the Jets their only championship. More than Freeman McNeil, who had some good years, but not as many as Martin. And Marty Lyons and Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau.Show up on Sunday - or Monday - and Martin will be there. In seven-plus seasons with the Jets, Martin has missed just one game. And that was back in 1998.He was out there again last night against the Falcons, but only after spending the week rehabbing a knee injury he initially suffered in Week 2 against the Dolphins. Martin has been a warrior throughout his career, and last night was no different. But you still wonder when it will end for Martin. You wonder how much more he has in his 32-year-old body.And if I were you, I'd watch Martin very closely over the next 10 games, because they might be the last of his career with the Jets. Or anyone else, for that matter.

With the Jets poised to revamp an offense that has grown old and expensive overnight, Martin might be at the center of the overhaul. He carries a salary-cap number of $8.1 million next year; that's money the Jets could use to bring in a new quarterback to compete with or take over from Chad Pennington. Money for a new offensive lineman or two if the Jets decide to release injured center Kevin Mawae.At the very least, Martin will be asked to take a pay cut, and might even be asked to come back next year as a situational runner. That may seem a cruel fate for the defending rushing champion who comes off a career-high 1,697 yards. But this is the NFL, where value is determined by how old you are and how much you can do now and in the future, not the past.

That Martin couldn't even take part in practice last week - he is not only one of the great players of all time, but one of the great practice players, too - is an indication of how badly he's hurting.Coming off a season-high 148 yards against the Bills, in which he looked like his old self again, Martin's continuing knee problems cast doubt on what lies ahead.Still, you marvel at his durability in a league that regularly spits out players with various debilitating injuries. "I never count Curtis Martin out," Jets coach Herman Edwards said Thursday. "Like the week we thought he wasn't going to play [against Jacksonville in Week 3], he ended up playing and all that stuff. We'll just have to wait and see."

Edwards saw just like everyone else: Martin was in the starting lineup against the Falcons last night. But who knows how much longer we'll be able to say that?

Martin has defied time before. Like last year, when it seemed as if LaMont Jordan was ready to take over the bulk of the running game.Martin fended off that challenge with the most productive season of his career at an age when most running backs are ready to hit the wall.The Jets could have made the almost impossible choice to cut Martin and re-sign Jordan, but how do you say goodbye to a Hall of Fame running back coming off his best year? Especially when it would have been prohibitively expensive to keep Jordan, who signed a $27.5-million deal with Oakland. Given the Jets' salary-cap problems, it would have precluded them from signing players like Ty Law, John Abraham, Jay Fiedler and backup running back Derrick Blaylock.

On paper, the Jets' roster seemed as viable as it has in years. Within a matter of weeks, it all unraveled, as Pennington and Fiedler went down with shoulder injuries, and then Blaylock and Mawae.Today, the Jets are a shell of the team that had legitimate playoff hopes, and even Super Bowl dreams. Both visions now seem preposterous in light of all the injuries, and the Jets are now prepared to undergo the kind of massive overhaul on the offense that they did with the defense two years ago.What to do with Martin will surely be one of the biggest decisions they face. For now, he will try and overcome the pain in his right knee and trudge on through the season as he always does.

The older he gets, the more you wonder: Will this one be his last ?

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These are alarming stats:

First two years in the NFL

1996: 368 carries

1997: 316 carries

Fast Foward..............

2003: 323 carries

2004: 371 carries

2005: On pace for 312 carries.

Keep in mind that back in '96 & '97 Curtis started 15 games. In the Herm era he has started everygame.

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