GAME BREAKERS : Packers Might Find That Holding Line Against Martin Is Not as Easy as It Looks

Yes, New England Patriot quarterback Drew Bledsoe has a powerful right arm, the kind that can pick apart a secondary.

If the Green Bay Packers aren’t convinced, they need only look at the first play of New England’s first offensive series of its first playoff game earlier this month. Bledsoe fired a pass that was completed to Terry Glenn for a 53-yard gain, setting up the Patriots’ first touchdown. The Pittsburgh Steelers never recovered, losing, 28-3.

And, yes, New England has a quick, powerful pass rush, led by Willie McGinest and Chris Slade.

If the Packers are not convinced of that, they need only look at what happened to Jacksonville Jaguar quarterback Mark Brunell. He ran and passed his way through seven consecutive opponents before running into the Patriots in the AFC title game. But the pressure McGinest and Co. applied was more than Brunell could handle. Jacksonville lost, 20-6.

So the Patriots have plenty of weapons to take into Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Packers, weapons that will make New England competitive.

But for the Patriots, 14-point underdogs, to have a chance to win, they will have to get at least 100 yards rushing from running back Curtis Martin. If New England wins, Martin will be the game breaker.

Green Bay defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, the man charged with the designing a plan to shut down the Patriots, agrees.

“To me, Curtis Martin is the big key,” Shurmur said. “The running game is where it starts. That’s the key to any game. If you can stop the running back on first down, then the play-action and all the rest will not be as effective.”

If Martin can run effectively, two things will happen:

--Some of the pressure will be off Bledsoe, who despite his big arm and big numbers, is, at 24 and in only his fourth year in the league, untested in a game of this magnitude. If the Packers are forced to concentrate on the run, watch the Patriots fly through the air.

--The more time Martin can eat up on the ground, the better it will be for New England because that will mean less time for Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre, the league’s MVP for the second consecutive year, to get his talented hands on the ball.

It won’t be easy. The Packers had the league’s best defense in 1996 and the best of any Green Bay team since 1962.

Nevertheless, Parcells’ best hope of victory is to hand the ball to Martin.

As a kid growing up in a crime-ridden section of Pittsburgh, Martin didn’t want the ball. As a matter of fact, he didn’t know much about football at all.

“I didn’t feel like rolling around in the dirt,” he said.

Martin was so far removed from the sport, he figures he watched perhaps three Super Bowls at most on television growing up.

Finally tempted by the possibility of a college scholarship, Martin agreed to put on the football pads for his senior year at Allderdice High.

The results were so spectacular, everybody wondered where this kid had been hiding.

In his one season of high school football, Martin rushed for 1,705 yards and 20 touchdowns and averaged 7.4 yards a carry. He ran for more than 200 yards in four games.

Martin showed the speed and cutting ability that would become his trademarks. He may head for the line of scrimmage in one direction, his eye on a target hole, but if another hole opens, even for an instant, Martin has the ability to shift gears, turn his body and change direction without losing his acceleration, like a skater twisting on ice.

Martin attended Pittsburgh and made it back to the 1,000-yard mark in his junior season, rushing for 1,075 yards. An ankle injury ended his senior season after two games.

That kept Martin’s stock from rising in the 1995 draft. New England got him in the third round, the 74th selection overall.

But once in the NFL, he started where he had left off in college, rushing for 1,487 yards and 14 touchdowns in his rookie season. This season, he rushed for 1,152 yards and scored 14 touchdowns. But he was used less. Martin carried the ball 316 times as opposed to 368 in his first season.

Once the playoffs began, however, the Patriots went back to him. Against the Steelers, Martin carried 19 times for 166 yards and three touchdowns. Included in that was a 78-yard burst, the longest run in New England postseason history.

“He has come up with the big games when we have really needed him to,” Patriot tight end coach Michael Pope said. “Teams may think they are going to push you around at the line of scrimmage, but a back like him really makes them think in the defensive huddle.”

In the AFC championship game, Martin was again the game’s leading rusher, with 59 yards and another touchdown.

So how do you stop him?

“You have to play honest,” Shurmur said. “Everybody has to remain in the gaps they are supposed to be in. You have to maintain discipline.”

Green Bay nose tackle Gilbert Brown acknowledges he is a fan.

“It’s just a treat to watch him run the ball,” Brown said. “He’s not like Barry Sanders, who just sees a hole and goes for it. Martin’ll cut back. There will be no arm tackling with him. The only way you are going to bring this guy down is to wrap him up or he’s going to take you with him.”

When Martin talks about running, his eyes get as big as they do when he spots a hole in the line.

“I have a lot of freedom out there,” he said. “On Sunday, I’ll go wherever I don’t see green uniforms. Whenever I see daylight, I’m attracted to it like a magnet.

“This is what you dream of, being in the Super Bowl.”

When Martin made his 78-yard run several weeks ago, he found an open field between himself and the end zone after breaking through the line of scrimmage.

And what did he think of as he raced down the field?

“Run, Forrest, run,” he said, referring to a scene in the movie “Forrest Gump.” “I wasn’t going to stop for anything.”

So now, he finally likes football, right?

“No,” he insisted, “I’m still not much of a fan.”

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Martin’s the Man

New England’s Curtis Martin has scored 32 touchdowns in 32 games, making him one of only three players to average a touchdown per game:

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Player G TD Avg Jim Brown 118 126 1.068 Emmitt Smith 109 115 1.055 Curtis Martin 32 32 1.000 Steve Van Buren 83 77 0.928 Jerry Rice 188 164 0.872

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Since New England’s 34-8 loss to Denver in Game 11, Martin has improved his performance:

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Time frame (Record) Car Yds Avg First 11 games (7-4) 213 754 3.5 Last 7 games (6-1) 141 623 4.4

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Most touchdowns scored after two seasons:

Player / TD

Eric Dickerson: 34

Curtis Martin: 32

Earl Campbell: 32

Billy Sims: 31