When Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III won NFL offensive rookie of the month for September, plenty of people thought it was just the first step on the road to conference rookie of the year honors.
That might turn out to be the case, but Griffin certainly isn’t without competition. Buccaneers running back Doug Martin has been named the winner of monthly honors for his work in October.
Martin ran for 296 yards in three games last month, including a 135 yard effort in Week Eight’s win over the Vikings. Martin also caught three passes for 79 yards in that game and scored two touchdowns to help the Bucs improve to 3-4 on the season. Martin had 171 receiving yards last month, showing off the kind of versatility that led the Buccaneers to trade up to take him in the first round of the draft. The Bucs have won two of their last three games as Martin and Josh Freeman have helped get the offense into a higher gear.
Griffin hardly had a bad month, but didn’t play well in last week’s loss to the Steelers and missed part of the loss to the Falcons after suffering a concussion. That was enough to get Martin the nod this time around, although we imagine Griffin will remain in the running for further prizes over the rest of the season.
Martin’s backfield mate LeGarrette Blount was the last Buccaneer to win rookie of the month honors.