The man has been entrenched in the Jets backfield for almost nine years now, meandering his way beyond defenders, bypassing pylons, and overcoming hardships and pain. When it is all said and done however, Curtis Martin's astonishing numbers will still trail the non-numeric breakdown of his unmatchable fortitude and passion.
Throughout Martin's career he has etched his way into the NFL's historic stone oh so quietly. With another season on the horizon – 2006 will prove to be a dozen total – Martin ranks favorably in many rushing categories alongside players like Emmitt Smith, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, and Jim Brown. A pretty impressive achievement for a guy who first picked up the sport in his final year at Pittsburgh's Taylor Allerdice High School.
Martin, a gentleman in every sense of the word, doesn't own an end zone celebration or find trouble off the field. It has even been difficult to restrain him to some flashy nickname – especially now, at this stage of his reputable career. That being said, Curtis Martin, who currently stands fourth on the all-time rushing list, has irrefutably earned the simple yet prominent title of Mister; as in Mr. Curtis Martin.
While we have watched Mr. Martin throughout most stages of his career – dramatic wins, losing seasons, championship games, injuries and more - we will now take a glimpse of what he has statistically garnered thus far.
September 3, 1995 – NFL debut; scored first career touchdown with New England.
September 6, 1998– NY Jets debut
November 24, 2002– Gained 120 yards against Buffalo, giving him 27 games with at least 100 rushing yards, passing Freeman McNeil's club record for most 100-yard rushing games.
December 8, 2002– Became just the 16th player in NFL history to amass 10,000 career rushing yards.
December 5, 2004– Started his 150th career game.
December 19, 2004– Scored his 12th rushing touchdown of the season, passing Emerson Boozer for club record.
October 16, 2005 –Became the seventh player in NFL history to gain more than 17,000 total yards.
November 6, 2005– Became the 17th player in NFL history to record at least 100 combined touchdowns.
November 27, 2005– Became the fourth player in NFL history to gain more than 14,000 rushing yards
Miscellaneous
Enters the 2006 NFL season as the National Football League's fourth all-time leading rusher with 14,101 yards and currently stands as the NFL's active leading rusher.
- Also enters the 2006 season with the fourth most rushing attempts in league annals with 3,298 carries, trailing Smith (4,409), Walter Payton (3,838) and Jerome Bettis (3,369).
Is the New York Jets' all-time leading rusher with 10,302 yards on a Club-record 2,560 carries for a 4.0 average.
- Earned the 2004 rushing title with 1,697 yards, bettering Seattle's Shaun Alexander by a single yard.
- Owns 43 regular season 100 yard games with the New York Jets and 56 career 100-yard performances in the regular season as a professional.
- Owns seven of the Jets' top 10 single season rushing marks, including the top three spots and five of the top six spots and established a team-record 1,697 yards in 2004 via a team-record 371 rushing attempts.
- Has racked up 17,430 total yards from scrimmage during the regular season throughout his career on 4,002 touches.
- Ranks sixth all-time in the Jets' record books for career receptions (367) and seventh all-time on the Club's all-time scoring list with 380 points (63 touchdowns and one two-point conversion).
- In 2004 he joined Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders as the only two players to begin their careers with 10 consecutive 1,000 yard rushing seasons.
- Has only missed eight regular season games throughout the first 11 years of his career (three in 1997, one in 1998 and four in 2005).
- Rushed for a career-high nine 100-yard games in 2004.
- Scored 14 times in 2004, a Club record, including a Jets' record 12 rushing touchdowns.
- Has thrown two touchdown passes in his career, both to Wayne Chrebet.
