When breaking down why an NFL team is doing well, one of the reasons rarely is: The star is a good person.

If it were more often the case then the Dalai Lama would be on somebody’s squad.

But there was CBS’ lead game analyst, Phil Simms, the other day on the phone, listing some of the reasons the Jets are 4-0. When he got to Curtis Martin, Simms talked about Martin the citizen before Martin the player.

“Curtis Martin is just a good person,” Simms said. “He is diligent. He works hard. He has pride and all that.”

This Sunday against the 49ers, more might be learned about Martin and the Jets than will be learned from next week’s encounter with the Patriots. At home against a bad San Francisco team, the Jets should win. If they don’t, it will be a “same old Jets” kind of feel going into Foxboro.

So far, Martin has led the Jets to unusually fast start. Four games in, the 31-year-old Martin has 504 yards and is averaging 4.7 yards per rush.

“You start with Curtis,” said CBS’ Randy Cross, who analyzed last Sunday’s Jet win over the Bills. “It is amazing how he has started. The biggest difference since Herman Edwards has gotten there is the start that Curtis has gotten off to.”

Last week, Martin surpassed Thurman Thomas to move into 10th place on the all-time rushing list. After he gains 27 yards Sunday, he will inch by the Steelers’ Franco Harris. He has 12,171 yards total rushing yards.

“He is putting up Hall of Fame numbers,” Simms said.

Martin is often overlooked, but steadiness is best reviewed past during a final call.

“If you are trying to build a team, a guy like Curtis Martin is money in the bank,” Cross said. “By the time Curtis is done, he may be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, because you don’t know what he is going to do over the next x-number of years.”