The Vanishing Of Doug Martin
November 30th, 2015
Shut down in second half.
On the Bucs’ final drive of the first half, a drive that ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from America’s Quarterback, Bucs signal-caller Jameis Winston, threw to Cameron Brate for a 12-6 lead.
The highlight of that drive was a 56-yard run by everyone’s favorite Muscle Hamster Doug Martin. Few realized Martin, who averaged 6.9 yards a carry Sunday, would only touch the ball three more times on rush plays.
So what happened? Did Martin get hurt?
No, said Bucs coach Lovie Smith. He claimed in his postgame remarks that Martin reduced workload was about trying to score points.
“No, just trying to be productive on the offensive side,” Lovie said. “Right now, of course maybe we’d say, ‘Yeah, we had to run the ball more,’ which would we have had completed the plays that we had called passing, again in the passing game, that could have done things for us too. Yeah, right now, you’re right, but we had opportunities. Just wasn’t our day today.”
This is real curious. The Colts pinned their ears back and Jameis was getting pounded and, as a result, the passing game eroded quickly. The Bucs couldn’t run Martin more to try to keep the Colts honest and maybe take heat off Jameis?
This seems very, very odd.
November 30th, 2015 at 5:22 am
I’ll preface this by saying Martin should have gotten more touches. However, I understand why he didn’t. First of all, we really didn’t run too many plays in the third quarter. We went three and out the first two series. Indy scored on I believe their first three possessions of the second half. We kept backing ourselves up by committing penalties, thus eliminating the threat of the run. We were constantly in 2nd and long or 3rd and long. We aren’t going to run the ball much in that situation. They really manhandled us up front in the second half to the point where (as a fan) I had no confidence in our running game. Finally, we always take Martin out when we are down two scores and need to move with more urgency. That’s just the way it’s going to be. Not saying it’s right or I agree, but it is what’s going to happen. Simms is a much bigger threat catching passes, so I do sort of get it.
November 30th, 2015 at 6:18 am
There were three major problems with the team yesterday.
The offensive line couldn’t keep rushers off Jaboo and that destroyed the passing game.
The defense didn’t make many, or any splash plays.
And once again, Mike Evans played like Michael Clayton and dropped a sure fire touchdown.
Face it, it’s a developing team and these ups and downs are all part of the process. It’s still disappointing though….
November 30th, 2015 at 6:59 am
Hawaiian is basically right, and thrown a possible missed blitz pickup or 2 and you have the reasons.
But if you really want to know “Joe” ask Dirk Koetter before Lovie has a chance to put a muzzle on him this week!!!
November 30th, 2015 at 7:03 am
Thanks for touching on this Joe. Koetter’s game plan in the second half was disturbing to say the least. While the offense has come a long way, especially on converting third downs, our running game has been one of the more consistent in the league this year. The Colts were no doubt thankful for not only the officiating yesterday but also for our choice to abandon the run.
November 30th, 2015 at 7:30 am
This isn’t the first time this year that this has happened. We’re quite predictable at times – go back to our first drives on previous games – it’s always run,run,run, throw. Martin ends up having solid numbers in the first half, then we seem to want to put it all on Jameis in the second half and make him throw all the time.
Look at Seattle, they will always run the ball no matter what the score. We can’t use our first two drives in the second half as an excuse for not running it any longer, we were always one score away until late in the game.
We can be thankful for Licht appointing Koetter and for Jameis inspiring the whole team and the offensive line being fixed, but Martin has been the most consistent player on the roster this year, his numbers only drop when we don’t actually give him the ball!
We have the second leading rusher in the NFL and thats with him sharing some snaps with Sims and us forgetting he’s on our team in the second half of games.
Forget the penalties, abandoning the run was the reason we lost yesterday.
Still, as frustrating as it is, let’s be thankful of where we are heading, there are a lot more things to be happy about this season.
November 30th, 2015 at 7:45 am
@WelshBuc — You hit it on the head. This has happened repeatedly all season. Almost like a pattern that Koetter is unaware of until he watches film later. I fully expect to see a heavy dose of Martin next week. Great post.
November 30th, 2015 at 7:51 am
I’m wondering if the staff is concerned about a potential injury for Martin.
So when they considere the game as a sure win or a sure defeat they decide to take him out of the pitch and save him for the next one.
Perhaps my view is a bit too nice with the staff. I don’t know I don’t really understand why the guy who is actually one of our main assets is not on the pitch making running plays.
November 30th, 2015 at 7:52 am
Don’t forget how the second half played out. First play – VJax holding gave them 1st and 20 on their own 10. Took them out of their running game. Sometimes when these OCs get rolling, they don’t re-adjust.
November 30th, 2015 at 8:08 am
They definitely got into some looks that took the run away but it still does not matter. They needed Doug to have at least 10 carries in the second half.
November 30th, 2015 at 9:43 am
This is just typical Dovie crap. He should keep is mouth closed because nothing but BS comes out.
November 30th, 2015 at 11:28 am
dirk is a great oc but he gets too pass happy imo…we still have to keep pounding the rock to keep the defense honest…in the second half j boogie really looked like a rookie…held on to the ball too long, took a couple sacks and missed some throws…evans had another off game and our rookie corner jude finally got his welcome to the nfl game but he still played decent…this game was also evidence that lovie isn’t handcuffing dirk…with doug running the way he has, im surprised lovie didn’t tell dirk to keep running him…we’re still in good shape…GO BUCS!!!
November 30th, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Doug Martin has been on record that he doesn’t like the nickname Muscle Hampster. Call him something else if you like him.
November 30th, 2015 at 1:13 pm
So we take out a top 5 NFL rusher who just crossed 1,000 yards for the season because you were “trying to productive on offense.”
I think the wrong Bucs employee is in the NFL’s substance abuse program.
November 30th, 2015 at 1:22 pm
Face it, the Colts were the better team overall and never left any doubt in my mind as to who would win the game. The Bucs look like 1or 2 game added wins from here on out.
November 30th, 2015 at 11:16 pm
Reminds me of Gruden not figuring out how to use Alstott, looking back at it, it seems that running Martin in the second half wouldn’t be any worse than what they did
December 1st, 2015 at 5:45 pm
“Doug Martin has been on record that he doesn’t like the nickname Muscle Hampster. Call him something else if you like him.”
I just want to reiterate the point….