NFL History: It was 20 years ago this season (2004)

Happy Pro Football Hall of Fame weekend. Over the last month or so, there has been a look back at the significant things that have happened in the National Football League over the past 50, 40, and 30 years, respectively. Time files for everyone, and it can be somewhat surprising to take a look back at events that seem so recent in our minds, but may have actually occurred a decade ago or more.

In 2004, there were several league records set or broken, a team pulled off rare back-to-back Super Bowl titles, and a student of the game made what would be the first of what is now five trips to the “Big Game” as an NFL head coach.

Was it really 20 years ago that this happened in the NFL?

5. A lot to be said for experience

He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012. Running back Curtis Martin was a third-round pick by Bill Parcells and the New England Patriots in 1995. He was a key part of a team that one year later reached Super Bowl XXXI. However, the talented performer’s time in Foxborough would be short-lived.

A restricted free agent in 1998, Martin would sign an offer sheet from the Jets (now with Parcells as head coach) in 1998, and the Pats opted not to match the huge number. In his seventh season with the club in 2004, he became the oldest running back in NFL history (31) to lead the league in rushing (1,697 yards).