Doug Martin No. 38
May 12th, 2016
Numberscrunchers like him.
Yes, NFL Network is running through its Top 100 players of 2016 list for the next several weeks. It is voted on by NFL players.
Pro Football Focus also has a similar list it It is a Top-101 players. It is voted on by spreadsheeters.
But one Bucs player made it. That is, one player who was on the roster of the Bucs last season. And that was running back Doug Martin at No. 38.
Doug Martin had been somewhat AWOL since his excellent rookie campaign, beset by injury and just poor play, but this season we saw that star emerge again. Martin notched 1,402 yards to trail only Adrian Peterson in the chase for the rushing crown, but also broke 57 tackles—seven more than Peterson on 39 fewer carries, fumbling two fewer times over the season, as well. Martin accomplished this without the best run-blocking in the world, too, averaging 3.1 yards per carry after contact—almost a full yard more than Peterson—and the best mark in the league among players with more than 120 carries.
Best performance: Week 5 versus Jacksonville.
Key stat: Martin’s elusive rating of 65.7 was the highest in the NFL.
Elusive rate! Joe thought that’s what what described the way chicks ran from Joe in college bars.
Last year really was remarkable for Martin. After two dreadful seasons, after his career appeared on the edge. Martin blew up in a contract year. Good timing, eh?
May 12th, 2016 at 9:14 am
Joe, thank you, YES a BIG THANK YOU !
I will never say that I’m ugly again , now I will say that I have a High Elusive rate !
May 12th, 2016 at 9:24 am
Elusive rate! Joe thought that’s what what described the way chicks ran from Joe in college bars.
…………………..
Noice 🙂
May 12th, 2016 at 10:20 am
That freaking jump/cut/juke against Jacksonville was legendary. Doug really hasn’t gotten enough credit for how awesome he was last season. I thought he was better than his rookie year and had the best season I’ve seen from a Bucs running back. Every tool in the toolbox was on display with the exception of breakaway speed. Luckily his first 10 yards is as quick as anybody in the league.
May 12th, 2016 at 10:30 am
Peterson better be the only runningback ranked ahead of him too!
All you Buc fans check out the new Bucs hype video on YouTube
http://youtu.be/cEKJ2TLTvRI
It’s rudiculous being it was made by a fan!
May 12th, 2016 at 10:57 am
Get It Doug! The Scampster Hamster!!
May 12th, 2016 at 10:58 am
That list is bad. It had suh in the top 40 and GMC not on it. Hard to believe suh with the help he had (Vernon was ranked in top 25) doing better than GMC. Not advocating that Gerald is the best ever,, but he is top 100 if suh is.
May 12th, 2016 at 12:24 pm
I hope dirk learns to lean on doug a little bit more…I understand simms is a good back and wants to keep doug fresh but if he’s running out of his mind, you got to ride him…GO BUCS!!!
May 12th, 2016 at 12:38 pm
MJD won a rushing title when Dirk was the OC in JAX.
Bet Double Duece wins it this year.
May 12th, 2016 at 1:19 pm
Two years of injury and running behind a crappy O-line taught Doug how to be both tough and elusive. Look back so many of his three to four yard runs last year. Most should have been losses. But when the blocking was good, his vision turned in EASY 20+ runs. He had a fantastic season and I believe the chip is still on his shoulder.
May 12th, 2016 at 1:54 pm
So glad we resigned him.
May 12th, 2016 at 3:42 pm
You know, Joe…you always speak against stat counters…but yet…you always quote these guys.
May 12th, 2016 at 3:43 pm
So far as Doug Martin…I’m still concerned he’ll go back to his old ways now that he got the money.
He’ll have to prove himself to me.
May 12th, 2016 at 4:06 pm
Martin was injured most of one year and part of another and playing in one of the worst offenses of all time that was trying to purposively (and thankfully so) tank the season to get the top draft pick. When you steal your NFL playbook from a local JV high school team and then dumb it down from there, what do you expect the outcome to be? If you just watched Martin alone towards the end of 2014 he was running hard, making good cuts, but the other teams would have 16 players at the LOS all on a run blitz since we had no QB play. Anywho I don’t expect Martin to repeat last year, how could you expect that? He was THE best running back in the NFL and was barely short of AD’s NFL leading total. Heck the Bucs were the 5th best offense in football (not to mention the 10th best defense, not that the Lovie bashers will even admit to that). So while Martin won’t repeat what he did last year I think a solid 1200 yards is very doable. If Winston comes out and shows improvement there might be less running anyways since the team should have even more success through the air.