What Doug Martin’s injury means for Bucs
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were hoping that star running back Doug Martin would be able to return to action following a bye week. But it doesn’t appear as though their badly-missed weapon will be back any time soon, per Greg Auman:
Dirk Koetter says Doug Martin had a setback last weekend in his injury recovery. No timetable for return.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) October 19, 2016
This is obviously disappointing news, considering that Martin was expected to be ready for Week 7. Bye weeks are always important in the sense of helping a player get healthy, but that’s not the case for Martin now.
Jacquizz Rodgers will likely be the team’s top running back on Sunday in San Francisco against the 49ers. He had 101 rushing yards in the team’s Week 5 victory over the Carolina Panthers. The 49ers are the NFL’s worst rushing team according to ESPN.com. They’re allowing 174.3 rushing yards a game, after giving up over 300 to the Buffalo Bills in Week 6.
But even if Rodgers shines, the Buccaneers won’t be facing terrible rush defenses all season long. The offense has taken a significant step back without Martin, allowing defenses to force Jameis Winston to win the game with his arm. It’s not easy to ask for your sophomore quarterback to do that, especially when he has a lot to learn.
As Auman said, there’s no timetable for Martin’s return. The Buccaneers have a difficult schedule coming up and really need the most out of their ground game. Rodgers may be a decent replacement, but he’s not quite a superstar like Martin.
For now, the Buccaneers can only hope for the best: Rodgers does his job, Martin returns soon and Winston can carry the offense until then.
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