FOXBORO, Mass. -- The New England Patriots were running out of runners.
They lost free agent Curtis Martin to the New York Jets after the 1997 season. They lost Robert Edwards to a devastating knee injury after the 1998 season. And they went into the 1999 draft without a proven rusher."We knew it would be a big factor with Edwards gone," said fullback Tony Carter, who blocked for him. "But it's the same as any other injury. We've just got to find somebody else to get in there and get the job done."
They found 10-year veteran Terry Allen and rookie Kevin Faulk, and the ground game improved as the season progressed.
They're expected to share the job Monday night against the Jets. The Patriots, meanwhile, will get a chance to see what they lost when Martin carries the ball for New York.
He's coming off his three best rushing games of the year, gaining 128, 123 and 131 yards. Martin had a season-high 38 carries in his last game, a 12-7 win over Arizona, the second busiest day of his five-year career.
"I enjoy that. Most of the time, the more I carry the better I feel," he said. "You don't really take time to think about how your body feels."
While the Patriots (6-2) have scrambled to develop a running attack, the Jets (2-6) have been rotating quarterbacks since Vinny Testaverde was lost for the season with a ruptured left Achilles' tendon in the season-opening 30-28 loss to the Patriots.
They tried Rick Mirer, switched to Ray Lucas and then back to Mirer when Lucas hurt his ankle. On Monday, Lucas will be back as the starter.
"We don't focus too much on who's in there," Martin said. "We have confidence in both guys."
Quarterback Drew Bledsoe has been the strength of the Patriots' offense, with 13 touchdown passes and just four interceptions. But with Faulk, drafted in the second round, and Allen, signed as a free agent on Aug. 27, the offense is becoming more balanced.
Allen, a straight-ahead runner, has been the workhorse with 512 yards and five touchdowns on 130 carries. The more elusive Faulk, slowed by an ankle injury early in the season, has gained 97 yards on 42 runs, while Warren has 57 yards in 19 attempts.
The offensive line has had to adjust to each of them.
"You try to do your job straight up and then after that you adapt to different styles," left tackle Bruce Armstrong said. "You just hope everything gets going to the same place. You try to make the plays work."
Despite the recent surge, New England's discrepancy between average yards passing and rushing, 181.1, was second most going into this weekend's games. Indianapolis was first with 181.8.
Last season, the discrepancy for the Patriots was just 136.3 as Edwards rushed for 1,115 yards as a rookie out of Georgia. He had been drafted with a first-round pick obtained as compensation after the Jets signed former Patriots coach Bill Parcells.
But Edwards sustained knee and nerve damage in February during a beach football game at the Pro Bowl festivities in Hawaii. The injury is career threatening, but Edwards expressed hope recently that he could play again.
Meanwhile, the Patriots march on without him.
"Our team is like one big engine," Jefferson said. "When one part goes down, the other guys have to kick in to make that engine run just as smoothly."