Doug Martin to get majority of carries for Tampa Bay Buccaneers
By Josh Hill
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell off hard last season after showing a lot of promise back in 2012 thanks to Doug Martin and his amazing ability to make the team look capable of not being awful.
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But Martin had a rough sophomore campaign that saw him exit the season early with an injury. All of this has many fans wondering if 2014 will be a year where Martin gets a load taken off as the Bucs have a battalion of backs who can help chip away at carries this season.
According to Lovie Smith, via USA Today, the Buccaneers may have a few running backs on roster who are capable of forming a committee but Martin is going to remain the ‘bell cow’ back in 2014.
"“With Mike James going down with an injury and with Charles going down, those guys need to play at a certain level,” the coach added. “They’re both good players, but Doug is our bell cow. He likes that role. He’s had a good camp, hasn’t missed a beat.”"
This is good for Bucs fans but it’s good for Martin too as he’s a franchise running back who is in the mold of Maurice Jones-Drew in that he’s a pint sized runner who packs a ton of punch and is as fast as anyone. That’s what the Bucs need in their backfield but they can’t overwork him either.
It doesn’t sound like that will happen, but having him in the backfield as the bell cow back means the Bucs offense could break wide open this year.
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