For the second time this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were blown out in a game, before putting up some numbers late to make things look more respectable than they were. Sunday, the Buccaneers trailed the Baltimore Ravens 38-0 at halftime before a few second-half scores made the final score 48-17.
Buccaneers fantasy football recap: Mike Glennon produces, Doug Martin doesn’t
As long as Tampa Bay can at least put up garbage-time numbers in blowouts, fantasy owners can still benefit. We break down the fantasy implications.
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The Buccaneers haven’t been able to find a lot of success in the running game so far this season, but the passing game has been much more successful since the team made a change at quarterback.
In the end, the players who produced in fantasy Sunday for the Buccaneers weren’t the ones fantasy owners probably hoped for. Still, there were some numbers:
The second-year quarterback has looked at least competent since taking over for initial starter Josh McCown in Week 3. Sunday was his second 18-point fantasy day in the last three weeks, with Glennon throwing for 314 yards on 24-of-44 passing, and two touchdowns against one interception. He's nowhere near starting territory for fantasy owners in a vacuum, but Glennon wouldn't be a bad bye-week fill-in at all.
The third-year running back has been one of the season's biggest busts, and that continued Sunday, with a four-point fantasy day. Martin ran for 45 yards on 11 carries, also catching one ball for 3 yards. Martin has missed two full games this season, and put up 21 total fantasy points in the four others. He needs to be rostered as long as he's Tampa Bay's starter, but he shouldn't be anywhere near a starting lineup. Meanwhile his backup, Bobby Rainey, had almost as many yards as Martin -- 42 -- but on four fewer carries, for a much better average yards per carry. If Rainey gets the team's starting job, he could be interesting.
Glennon looked Jackson's way a lot in Sunday's game -- 13 targets -- but only four of them went for completions. Jackson had 66 yards in the game, but after steadily improving his fantasy performance all season, a six-point outing had to be disappointing. Mike Evans, the rookie and the team's supposed No. 2 receiver, was active for Sunday's game, after a groin injury that was supposed to cost him more weeks. He had 55 yards on four catches, but did go for a 17-yard touchdown in the third quarter to keep his value fairly high. Evans is a possible WR3 in the right matchups.
Since joining the Buccaneers three weeks ago off the streets, Murphy has been the team’s top receiver. He caught seven passes for 72 yards and a touchdown Sunday, good for 14 fantasy points and bringing his three-week total to 32. Both Jackson and Evans were banged up coming into Sunday, so we’ll have to see what Murphy does when his compatriots are fully healthy, but he’s gone from nothingness to at least fantasy relevance.
The rookie tight end has fully supplanted Brandon Myers as the team's top tight end option. He caught four passes Sunday for 58 yards, while Myers caught just two for 29. Seferian-Jenkins now has only 14 fantasy points in six games, meaning his real football value is far higher than fantasy, but at the least he's getting enough looks that he could be an interesting stash as the last guy on a fantasy roster.
