The NFL is handing out a few more yellow Hall of Fame jackets this weekend. Some greats of the game will be entering Canton. Willie Roaf. Chris Doleman. Cortez Kennedy. Dermontti Dawson. I'm not convinced Dawson is a hall of famer but the NFL has always inducted more players than the other pro sports halls. That should mean a few guys from the Pats dynasty get in. At least they better.
One guy going in the hall this year was not a part of the dynasty but is one of the all-time great Patriots. Curtis Martin. The greatest runner the team has ever had. If only for a few years. There aren't too many warm memories from tailgating in the '90s, but what few there are mostly involve Curtis Martin. No. 28.
Martin was drafted by Bill Parcells and the Pats in the third round of the 1995 draft. Martin would have been a sure top five pick but after putting up 250 yards against Texas in the opening game of his senior year at Pitt, he sprained his ankle and missed the rest of the season. His draft stock plummeted. And he fell right into the waiting arms of Parcells. It's not Brady in the sixth round, but it's close.
I remember going to the first game of Martin's rookie year at the old Foxboro Stadium against the Browns. Expectations for the team were high after making the playoffs in Parcell's second year as coach. A real running game was the biggest need. A few minutes into the season Martin showed that need had been filled. Martin took the hand off and cut to his left. The outside was closed off so he cut back against the grain -- the move that would become his trademark -- and raced 30 yards on his first carry. Then, with time running out, he took the ball at the Cleveland one-yard line and soared over the pile for the game winner. It was a beautiful late summer day in the mid 60s and I remember the post-game tailgate as being one of the best ever. We had Parcells. Bledsoe. And now Curtis Martin. There were a lot of smiles that day.
Of course Parcells, Bledsoe, and Martin proceeded to lose six of the next seven games and the smiles were gone. In fact there was a moment in the parking lot after a tough loss to New Orleans late in the year where I stood slumped against my red Chrysler Reliant wagon (Yes. I was one of the guys who believed in Lee Iacocca). Mark still calls it my low point of nearly 30 years of tailgating. But Martin was not the reason. He broke 100 yards nine times in his rookie year and led the AFC in rushing yards with nearly 1,500. Rookie of the year. Pro bowler. Future of the franchise.
Things got even better in Martin's second year. Although not right away. The Pats lost their first two games to division rivals Miami and Buffalo (turning the ball over six times) and suddenly the great Bill Parcells wasn't looking so great. And then Martin took over. He scored three touchdowns (one rushing, two receiving) to spark the team to a 31-0 win over Arizona. The Pats would only lose three more times that year as Martin rolled up 17 touchdowns and the Pats made the playoffs at 11-5. Then they had their first ever home playoff game. The Fog Game. One of the greatest days of football in the town that Kraft built. There were a lot of moments in the team's 28-3 domination of the hated Steelers. But none bigger than Martin's 78-yard touchdown dash through the fog. He added a 23-yarder to seal the game away in the fourth quarter and finished with 166 yards on the ground. A team record. The Pats looked unstoppable.
A few weeks later they would lose a heartbreaking Super Bowl to Favre and the Packers and a few days after that Parcells was on his way to coach the Jets. Martin stayed another year with the Pats but as soon as his contract was up he joined the Tuna in New York. Martin and I have one thing in common ... that I know of -- a love of Bill Parcells. Martin says the coach is his mentor and one of the biggest influences in his life. When Parcells left the Pats after the Super Bowl loss, it was only a matter of time till Martin followed.
Martin continued to build a hall of fame resume playing for the Jets. But Parcells, as he does, bailed on Gang Green after a few seasons and Martin spent the rest of his career playing for mediocre teams in the Meadowlands. But he never quit no matter how bad the Jets got. That's what made him a hall of famer. It wasn't his speed or shiftiness. It was his toughness, dedication, class, determination. Losing Martin to New York hurt much less after Belichick bolted the Jets and came to Foxborough to build a dynasty. But it's hard not to wonder what Martin could have done with the Pats.
Check out the highlights below. They are all from just one game in 1995 against the Steelers, the best defense in the league that year. The Steelers won the game, but the Pats' rookie put on a show rushing for 120 yards on 20 carries and catching eight passes from Bledsoe for another 62 yards and a touchdown. It was a hall of fame performance. One of many.
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