Curtis charting a course past a Panther in '05
Former New York Jets great Curtis Martin will serve as the team's honorary captain for Sunday's AFC Championship Game between the Jets and the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Martin is the Jets' all-time leading rusher and the No. 4 rusher in NFL history with 14,101 rushing yards on 3,518 carries in 11 seasons (1995-2005). He scored 100 career touchdowns, including 90 rushing scores.
Martin was selected in the third round of the 1995 draft by the New England Patriots out of the University of Pittsburgh and made an immediate impact in the NFL, rushing for 1,487 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was the only rookie on the AFC roster in the 1995 Pro Bowl and earned NFL Rookie of the Year honors.
After signing with the Jets as a restricted free agent in 1998, Martin recorded seven consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, retiring as the franchise's all-time leading rusher with 10,302 yards and producing his lone NFL rushing title in 2004, when he ran for a career-best 1,697 yards.
Martin was selected to five Pro Bowls and chosen by his Jets teammates as the team's Most Valuable Player, an award since renamed in his honor, on four occasions. He was also named the Dennis Byrd Award winner as the Jets' most inspirational player three times; the Ed Block Courage Award winner as the Jets' most courageous player in 2001, and the Kyle Clifton Award winner (the "good guy" award) in 2001.
