FROM JOKES TO GEMS; DAVIS, MARTIN GET LAST LAUGH AS NFL'S BEST BARGAINS.

Byline: Kamon Simpson Colorado Springs Gazette

Remember Fritz Fequiere?

How about Phil Yeboah-Kodie?

Yeboah-Kodie and Fequiere were just two of the players picked ahead of Terrell Davis in the 1995 NFL draft. Worse, they were picked ahead of Davis by the team that ultimately decided to give him a chance, the Denver Broncos.

History rewards hindsight. Four years, 67 touchdowns and 7,284 yards later, Davis is the NFL's Most Valuable Player and the biggest reason the Broncos are one game away from the chance to defend their Super Bowl championship. As Broncos quarterback John Elway observed last season: ``It's Terrell's team now. My job now is just picking up third downs.''

One hundred and ninety-four players clearly weren't better than Terrell Davis in the '95 draft. But you don't have to go that far down the list to find another running back who also proved to be a bargain.

Seventy-three names were called before the wait was over for Curtis Martin, who wasn't selected by the New England Patriots until the third round. Like Davis, Martin entered the league with few expectations and much to prove. Passed over by every NFL team at least twice, Martin was finally given an opportunity to settle the score.

After his first two seasons, Martin had rushed for 2,639 yards, 28 touchdowns, was NFL Rookie of the Year and earned trips to the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl.

``Curtis beat me to the Pro Bowl, beat me to the Super Bowl, beat me to rookie of the year,'' Davis said. ``Now, I'm trying to beat him to a few things.''

Or just trying to beat him, period. When the Broncos host the New York Jets on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game, two unlikely friends - Davis and Martin - will have much to say about which team advances to the Super Bowl and which one doesn't.

``I won't be cheering for him this time,'' Davis said. ``But whatever happens after this game, whether I go on or he goes on, we'll be rooting for each other.''

Theirs is a friendship forged on mutual respect - and disrespect. Because they were so lightly regarded in the draft, because only they knew they were capable of becoming 1,000-yard rushers, Pro Bowlers, difference makers, they naturally gravitated to each other.

Although he rarely takes time to acknowledge his own statistics, Davis has always scanned box scores looking for Martin's numbers. Martin, who spent his first three years with the Patriots before being signed by the Jets as a free agent before this season, can recite Davis' career statistics by heart.

``Coming up on this game, I don't really want to talk to (Terrell),'' Martin said. ``I'll talk to him after the game. That's my boy. We have a solid competition going. He's been dominating the last couple of years. I told him, `I got you the first two years; you got me the last two.' We push each other.''

Even before draft-day anxiety, misfortune was their bond. Davis was underused and underappreciated at Georgia, outshined by quarterback Eric Zeier (who was picked 84th in the 1995 draft) and even benched.

Martin was a preseason All-American at Pittsburgh but suffered a season-ending ankle injury against Ohio in the second game of his senior year. He wouldn't play again until the Blue-Gray All-Star Game, where he first met Davis and tried to convince NFL scouts that he wasn't damaged goods. It wasn't an easy sale. Only Bill Parcells, now with the Jets but then overseeing all aspects of the Patriots organization, was convinced.

``There's just something about the way he runs,'' Parcells said. ``Curtis doesn't take a lot of big hits. He's elusive enough. And he doesn't show any fatigue at all. I don't even have to look at the kid out there during a game to know what kind of shape he is in.''

Parcells turned out to be just as right about Martin as Mike Shanahan was about Davis. The two biggest steals of the '95 draft became two of only six running backs in league history - along with Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, Tony Dorsett and Earl Campbell - to rush for 1,000 yards in each of their first four seasons.

Davis became only the fourth running back in league history to rush for 2,000 yards, finishing 1998 with 2,008. He outrushed 22 other teams and scored more rushing touchdowns than all but the Dallas Cowboys. Martin lived up to free-agent expectations by setting a Jets records with 369 carries and eight 100-yard games and finished with the second-most rushing yards in team history, 1,287.

In last week's 34-24 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Martin rushed for 182 yards and two touchdowns on 36 carries. In the Broncos' 38-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins one day earlier, Davis rushed for 199 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries.

Now that they're rushing head-to-head for the fourth time in their careers - Davis and the Broncos had the upper hand in all three meetings when Martin was with the Patriots - it's as tempting as ever to compare their careers. Davis says that's nothing new.

``It's funny now because when I came in with Curtis, everybody compared us,'' Davis said. ``Curtis and I were the Emmitt (Smith) and Barry (Sanders) of our class. Now, people don't even mention me with Curtis anymore. They mention me with Barry and Jim Brown and Walter Payton. It's like I graduated from one class to the next.''

Not true, of course. Davis needs only think back to the 1995 draft to remember that he and Martin share the same motivation - that nine running backs were drafted ahead of Martin, guys like Ki-Jana Carter and Terrell Fletcher, Rashaan Salaam and Ray Zellars; that 19 running backs were chosen before Davis, guys like Joe Aska and Aaron Hayden, Cory Schlesinger and Dino Philyaw.

They weren't at the head of their class, but that's history. In the present, Davis and Martin have one more score to settle - this time with each other.

DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

A statistical comparison of Terrell Davis and Curtis Martin - the gems of the 1995 NFL Draft:

Davis 1998 Martin

16 Games 15

2,008 Rushing yards 1,287

392 Rushing attempts 369

125.5 Rushing yards/game 85.8

21 Touchdowns 8

25 Receptions 43

217 Rec. Yards 365

8.7 Rec. avg. 8.5

2 Rec. TDs 1

2,225 Total yards 1,652

139.0 Total yds/game 110.1

2 Fumbles lost 1

Davis Career Martin

61 Games 60

6,413 Rushing yards 5,086

1,343 Rushing attempts 1,327

105.1 Yards/game 84.8

56 Touchdowns 40

152 Receiving 160

1,181 Yards 1,255

19.4 Yards/game 20.9

5 Touchdowns 6

7,594 Total yards 6,338

124.5 Total yards/game 105.6

6 Fumbles lost 9

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) no caption (Terrell Davis

(2--Color) no caption (Curtis Martin)

(3) Terrell Davis (30) became just the fourth running back in NFL history to surpass 2,000 yards in a season.

Associated Press