Rocked Up And Ready
May 27th, 2015
Photo courtesy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Joe caught up with Doug Martin a few weeks ago when he was volunteering with the Buccaneers at a community youth event in Clearwater. It was then that Martin shared some info on his changed body.
Martin has added muscle and dropped fat. The photo above is a look at Martin yesterday at the first OTA practice of the year at One Buc Palace. He’s not flexing for the cameras. This is a new version of Martin with a more powerful upper body.
The running backs battle really intrigues Joe. Martin is the one guy of the bunch that has a superstar season under his belt. The other guys have flashed good games and good plays and represent a whole lot of hope.
Martin was the real deal, a Pro Bowler in 2012, and maybe he can be again. But will he get a chance to win the job, or will the regime want its guy, Charles Sims, to take over?
That’s always a question about a player drafted by a regime (Sims) versus a holdover player (Martin).
Joe can assure readers that Martin, now in a contract year, is playing to win. He bought a house in Tampa late last year and is not looking for a new address.
May 27th, 2015 at 12:28 pm
I wish him success but I’m not convinced
May 27th, 2015 at 12:29 pm
America’s Muscle Hamster.
May 27th, 2015 at 12:34 pm
One year deals in the NFL=King of motivation…
May 27th, 2015 at 12:41 pm
Im pullin for him to take the starting role
May 27th, 2015 at 12:44 pm
Rainey
Martin
James
Winston
Simms
In that order.
May 27th, 2015 at 12:59 pm
One does not simply buy a house and not intend to kick a$$
May 27th, 2015 at 1:20 pm
I’m pulling for Doug too after all of the doubt and want to trade him crowd had spoken.
May 27th, 2015 at 1:32 pm
Give us some quality o-line play and I think we will see the douggernaut rise again!
Honestly. I think the offense as a whole will depend entirely on our oline play. If they can block and give us some time, can you imagine how scary good this offense could actually be with our stable of backs and receiving threats? One can dream…
May 27th, 2015 at 1:47 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkjmSjngFkc
May 27th, 2015 at 2:59 pm
“robert 9 Says:
April 30th, 2015 at 1:54 pm
we can bring up the consistent degradation of white females by black males for conquest, making up for slavery?
May 27th, 2015 at 3:24 pm
Joe –
You might want to look back on Doug’s rookie season. If you dig a little deeper at what he actually produced that season I’m not sure you would be so quick to throw around the “superstar” label.
5 games of 100+ yd games (134 att / 794yds….159 yds per game / 5.9 yds per carry) which is very good, but if you look at the teams he did that against they weren’t exactly top 10 defenses (MIN / CAR aside)
OAK 18th
ATL 21st
CAR 14th
MIN 11th
PHI 23rd
In his other 11 games he performed at a much lower level (185 att / 660yds….60 yds per game / 3.6 yds per carry)
I think a lot of people have been fooled (perhaps Joe as well) by Doug’s fantasy output that season and drastically overrated him….
May 27th, 2015 at 3:25 pm
I truly believe you will see better line play out of the OL but as has been said before (and not enough) I think the difference will be having DIrk Koetter not yo-yo Arroyo. ASJ had NO OTA’S due to school and then was hurt and MJ didn’t come into his own until mid year. Mankins and Smith were thrown together the week before the season. Our defense will be better because we’re in the second year and have a couple of nice additions that know how to play in our type of system. No predictions but think that 7 wins is very attainable.
May 27th, 2015 at 3:57 pm
It seems like Doug Martin was better when Josh Freeman was under center and killing defenses with his play action and deep throws and Martin were the beneficial.Martin and Rainey should be the 1-2 punch for us in the backfield, Charles Sims and Kenny Bell should be our slot receivers.
May 27th, 2015 at 4:40 pm
Mike James…..to bad the coached don’t see it. Or maybe they do…..who knows.
That’s all I gotta say is Mike James
May 27th, 2015 at 4:46 pm
ASDF…..YEP!!! Now in Martins defense the teams offense wasn’t just horrible last year it has been EVERY YEAR!!! With the exception of the first year Mike Sulivan was our OC. That was the year he was actually granted permission to run his own playbook at his own discretion. The year after Schiano would have the headset on with the play card the entire second half of the game.
It blows my freekin mind that people just push aside the OC position when considering a teams struggles on offense. NFL defenses smell blood in the water every single time when the game tape looks the same every week. When the playbook never changes. When you run it up the middle every single first and second down.
It really seems like common sense but somehow people ALWAYS blame the players 9 times out of ten.
May 27th, 2015 at 5:20 pm
No predictions but think that 7 wins is very attainable.
Isn’t that a prediction?
May 27th, 2015 at 5:20 pm
Go ahead and hate me but D Martin is still our best RB on this roster. Sims is nothing more than a passing back at the very best and I’m being kind. I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that I think he will be nothing but a camp body 2 years from now. I don’t see the burst or any ability to break tackles or make guys miss from Sims. Rainey is a solid runner. Nothing great but not bad. James, the forgotten man, should be used more than he has been. His weakness is the ability to block and read blitzes but the guy can run downhill and break tackles. I wouldn’t mind seeing Sims used more as a 4 or 5 WR and as nothing more than a passing back. If he shows progression, then maybe he earns some carries but he reminds me much more of a Percy Harvin gadget guy with about 50% of Harvin’s ability. The coaches know more than I do but D Martin should lead this backfield and Rainey and James should get work behind him with Sims being in a Sproles type of role.
May 27th, 2015 at 5:22 pm
@ asdf
I’m not following your logic. Talk about the last two seasons all you want but to try to take away from what he did as a rookie makes no sense. I don’t care who you are, there is no faking 2,000 all purpose yards in the NFL. You meticulously went through his 2012 stats attempting to attribute his success to facing bad defenses. Do you think that every running back who has a good year is facing the steel curtain every week? I love reading some of the comments on here. Anyways, I’m looking forward to seeing what all of the running backs do this year. Their success will depend on the opportunities that are given to them by the coaches & the OL.
May 27th, 2015 at 5:25 pm
Do you think Bucs players are the only ones that have inflated stats against the below avg teams. C’mon dumb @ss!!
May 27th, 2015 at 5:40 pm
Look how many teams got inflated stats by playing our Bucs last year. If it weren’t for the Bucs sucking, Cam Newton would be a bottom dweller in stat’s. He’s only average as a QB now except for rushing TD’s and Rushing yds. Some nice post’s on here today. Great that some posters are talking football again instead of arguing about Winston or Mariota. were getting closer to Football!, finally. before we know it , it will be pre-season.
May 27th, 2015 at 7:55 pm
Excellent job overhyping players this year Joe, why didn’t dekota Watson get that.
May 27th, 2015 at 8:46 pm
@SF Joe –
Logic is super simple….outside of 5 games (forget the opponent strength for a second) he was a pedestrian running back that year. He put up great fantasy stats (see raiders game where he had 67 and 70yd TD runs) so was then proclaimed to be a great running back which I’m attempting to argue he never really was.
May 28th, 2015 at 4:13 am
Martin killed it his rookie year. You can’t take that from him. Everyone knew who he was, unlike LVD. The guy was making highlights, and breaking tackles. If you don’t remember you haven’t been watching the Bucs too long. Doug went to the probowl, remember? Jeez guys he had the 3rd most rushing yards that year. Shitano ran him into the ground. This year I don’t care who gets the ball. Should be Martin, Sims, and Rainy. James on short yardage. Guys need some blocking ahead of them. This year will be much better. Have some faith.
May 28th, 2015 at 8:38 am
ASDF-
With your logic then we should probably go ahead and say how Adrian Peterson is not that great since outside of four games in 2012 we were the best defense he faced and we were ranked 14th in the league against the run. So his numbers were inflated due to him facing teams that weren’t fit to stop the run.
May 28th, 2015 at 12:36 pm
Whatdabuc –
You should probably actually read my posts as you don’t seem to be following them particularly well.
May 29th, 2015 at 7:56 am
asdf, No need I read your post and I understand what you are TRYING to say. However, one cannot have five good games (against softer defenses) and end up the way he did. Maybe you should go back and watch the games. He was dominant that year. He was running the ball well and he was catching the ball well. If I remember correctly (only cause I don’t have time to look up the numbers) when he was limited on his touches 15 or 20 is when he less productive. Did he benefit from a couple long carries? Yes, that is how all running backs work. There is not a running back in the league that ends up at the top of the pecking order at the end of the season and averages 4 to 5 yards a carry and only had a few long ones throughout the season. Maybe it was because he was still somewhat of an unknown in the league. But even that is tough to believe when his best games were mid to late in the season. Bottom line is he has had ONE great year. If he wants to retain his job here or anywhere else, he had better figure out how to get back to that level.