After two months of fantasy irrelevance, Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin re-emerged a bit Sunday. Martin scored his first touchdown since Week 4, and only his second of the season, in the Buccaneers' 14-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
Fantasy football waiver wire, Week 14: Doug Martin manages a touchdown
Even with his touchdown, Martin totaled only 11 fantasy points Sunday. We break down the fantasy implications.
Cliff McBride/Getty Images
Martin, who had his first start in a month last week, ran the ball 18 times Sunday for 58 yards and a score, adding a catch for three yards. The 11 fantasy points tied Martin's best performance of the season. The team's other running backs -- Bobby Rainey and Charles Sims -- fared less well. Sims had five carries for six yards and four catches for 49 more, while Rainey had one carry for 11 yards and two catches for 41. All told, the Buccaneers got 20 fantasy points out of their top three running backs, easily the unit's highest total of the season.
Fantasy impact: If you’ll excuse the cliche, even a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then. And, considering Martin’s “big game” was 3.2 yards per carry and only 61 total yards, this wasn’t even much of an acorn. This remains a positional group that fantasy players just want to avoid.
Going forward, the team seems dead set on giving Martin every opportunity to be the starting running back, but in fantasy, it seems the best bet is just to avoid all the Tampa Bay running backs; it isn’t worth the heartache.
