Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin is well on his way to surpassing 300 carries in his first season in the NFL. Martin has come off two largely ineffective games against the Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos where he was held to under 60 yards rushing in both contests. While having never played more than 13 games in a season, it would be natural to assume Martin could be hitting the “rookie wall.”
According to Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune, Martin says he hasn’t hit that wall.
“That stuff about the rookie wall, I don’t feel that at all,” Martin said. “My body feels great and my mind is clear.’'
Martin has been held to just 50 and 56 yards in his last two games against the Falcons and Broncos. What’s even more concerning for the Buccaneers is that he had ample opportunities in both games and failed to find production. Martin carried 21 times against Atlanta and 18 times against Denver, yet he averaged just 2.4 and 3.1 yards per carry, respectively.
But Martin is convinced it’s not some intangible wall affecting his performance. He’s confident that he’ll be able to bounce back and get on the right track again with just a couple minor adjustments.
“It has been a rough couple of weeks,” Martin said, “but all we need to do is get back in the film room, tweak some things and pay a little more attention to detail like we were and we’ll be just fine.”
For the season, Martin has carried 236 times for 1,106 yards and nine touchdowns. He’s also caught 32 passes for 374 yards and a touchdown for the Buccaneers.