Curtis Martin took a significant baby step toward getting back onto the field and continuing his remarkable streak of consecutive games played.
The Jets yesterday announced that a MRI on Martin’s injured right knee came back negative, meaning there are no ligament tears.
That doesn’t necessarily mean Martin is a go for Sunday’s game against the Jaguars at Giants Stadium, though based on Martin’s near-legend pain tolerance and propensity for toughing out injuries, he’s a decent bet to play.
Herman Edwards, who doesn’t have to officially categorize Martin on an injury report until today, will update Martin’s status in his 10:30 a.m. news conference.
Martin will likely be listed as questionable and will be “day-to-day” in terms of practice, which he won’t today. It’ll likely be a game-time decision whether he plays Sunday.
Martin has played in 109 consecutive regular-season and seven playoff contests since being sidelined in Week 5 of the 1998 season with a deep thigh injury. Since then, Martin has carried 2,287 times, including 51 in two games this season, without missing any time with an injury.
In his seven-plus year career with the Jets, that’s the only game he’s missed. In his 10-plus year career, he’s missed only four games.
Here’s the thing to watch with Martin: Although his pain tolerance has been amazing, in games he’s played in which he’s gutted out injuries, he has not had great results.
In 2000, Martin partially tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in Week 1 at Green Bay. In Week 2, he managed only 47 yards on 11 carries. Later that year, the week after he tore the muscle away from his tailbone, he rushed for only 29 yards on 17 carries against the Bears.
In 2002, Martin sprained his left ankle in the opener, and managed only 11 yards on eight carries the first two weeks. He sprained his right ankle later that season and rushed for only 37 yards on 13 carries the following week.
On Sunday against the Dolphins, before Martin was hurt on a Zach Thomas tackle at the Miami 6-yard line in the second quarter, he’d rushed for 59 yards on 14 carries. He got up slowly from that tackle and rushed for just 13 yards on 17 carries the rest of the game.
“I watched the film and he took some shots,” Jets LG Pete Kendall said.
“He’s been a workhorse,” Edwards said. “He’s been a guy that’s always answered the bell. We’ll just see where he’s at.”
The most likely scenario is that Martin will play Sunday, but Edwards will be cautious with him and utilize backup Derrick Blaylock, who rushed for a career-high 539 yards last season with the Chiefs while backing up Priest Holmes.
Blaylock is excellent at picking up blitzes and a similar tough slashing runner to Martin. Make no mistake, however, Martin is the heartbeat of the Jets. At age 32, he’s coming off the best season of his career as the NFL’s rushing champion with 1,697 yards and 12 TDs.