The weather outside is frightful and the Jets’ running game, at the moment, is hardly delightful.
That needs to change Sunday at Giants Stadium, where the 6-6 Jets will play host to the 7-5 Broncos in a game Gang Green have to win to keep their flickering playoff hopes aflame.
After riding the high of consecutive 100-yard rushing performances, Curtis Martin gained a paltry 26 yards on 12 carries Monday night in Oakland, a number that if repeated Sunday likely will result in a Jets loss.
Herman Edwards yesterday acknowledged the Jets “didn’t stay with the running game long enough” against the Raiders, echoing the opinion center Kevin Mawae expressed Wednesday.
“We didn’t have a lot of plays in the first quarter and we never really got Curtis involved in the game,” Edwards said. “What you have to try to do is not get discouraged early, because [the Broncos] can discourage you some. They play pretty good run defense.
“You have to be able to run, especially now, at this time of year. You’ve got to be able to run it.”
The task will not be an easy one: The Broncos are the NFL’s top-ranked team in run defense.
It’s not impossible, however, considering what Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson did to the Denver defense last week, gaining 220 yards on 37 carries.
Then again, the task might become tougher because the Broncos’ defense got gashed last week.
“You would expect them to bounce back, and in their minds that’s probably never going to happen again; they probably look at that as a one-shot deal,” Martin said yesterday.
“That’s just a pride issue,” tight end Anthony Becht said. “Anyone in the league that got beat up in any phase of the game wants to come back and show themselves a little bit. It’s going to be important for them to stop the run and important for us to run it, so it’s going to be a big challenge.”
Martin was stopped for a loss or no gain five times by the Raiders’ penetrating defense. In the previous four games he’d been stopped for a loss or no gain just three times. In four games prior to the good streak, Martin had been stopped for a loss or no gain 25 times.
“They stunted on a lot of the runs,” Martin said of the Raiders. “As soon as I’d get the ball they had an extra man or two there. They played good defense. Hopefully, we can get it going against Denver.”
Martin, who said he gets into the “flow of things” by about the 15th or 16th carry in a game, is about to embark on a couple significant personal milestones. He needs 12 yards to become the 16th player in NFL history to rush for 10,000 or more.
Martin, too, is fighting to gain 1,000 rushing yards this season. He’s 279 yards short of becoming the second back in NFL history to rush for 1,000 or more yards in each of his first eight seasons, with Barry Sanders the only other to do it (10 years).
“If that happens, it happens,” Martin said. “But more importantly we’ve got to win these four games.”
