When Buccaneers running back Doug Martin was a rookie in 2012, he ran 319 times for 1,454 yards and 11 touchdowns while also catching 49 passes and playing in all 16 games.
It’s been all downhill from there. Martin has played in just 12 games since that year and he’s seen his average gain on running plays drop to 3.3 yards. That’s led the Bucs to go with a committee-oriented approach to the running game while some outside the organization question whether Martin can be a successful feature back again.
Martin doesn’t share those doubts and says he doesn’t listen to the criticism because he believes he’s still the same player that he was in 2012.
“I don’t say anything,” Martin said, via ESPN.com. “That’s something you’ve got to ignore. That’s just outside noise. You’ve just got to ignore that and keep playing the game and having confidence in my game. It’s just something that you’ve got to brush off.”
Injuries have kept Martin off the field far too often and he’s also been running behind a subpar offensive line, a combination that certainly hasn’t helped him remain at a high level. Proving the critics wrong is going to take finding the right formula to succeed in spite of those obstacles, though, and Martin’s going to need to do that soon if he wants to be more than just another guy in Tampa or elsewhere.
