Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin has missed 1 ½ of the season's two games thus far and is likely to lose some carries moving forward. New England Patriots running back Shane Vereen already lost a number of looks in the team's Week 2 game against the Vikings, so where do they both stand?
It seems as if the bigger concern is with Martin. After an awful Week 1 performance against the Carolina Panthers that featured nine carries for nine yards and then a knee injury that forced him out of the second half, Martin missed Week 2 with that same injury. Now the Bucs will visit the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night with Martin's status in question, and after Bobby Rainey's solid performance against the Rams on Sunday (22 carries for 144 yards), it looks as if Martin may lose carries when he returns.
"Coach Lovie Smith's not dancing around. He's serious about playing two or three running backs. He's been saying that since he arrived, but it hasn't happened the way Smith wants yet," said ESPN NFC South blogger Pat Yasinskas. "If both backs are healthy and the circumstances are right, I can see a fairly even split of the carries. That's not what fantasy players that have Rainey or Martin on their teams want to hear. But it might be what's best for the Buccaneers."
With Martin performing poorly in Week 1, the Bucs fell to the Panthers 20-14, but they also lost to the Rams on Sunday and only put up 17 points with Rainey's excellent production. If Martin is out tomorrow, Rainey will carry the load, but it looks like it will be a running back by committee system once they're both back in the lineup.
As for Vereen, in Week 1 against the Dolphins he was the team's leading rusher, carrying the ball seven times for 36 yards and catching five passes for 35 yards. He played 61 snaps compared to fellow teammate and running back Stevan Ridley, who played just 21. But Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings was a little bit different for the Patriots' backfield.
Vereen carried the ball six times for 40 yards and averaged 6.7 yards per carry, but Ridley dominated the run game with 25 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown. According to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, Vereen did not touch the ball between 1:23 remaining in the first quarter until there was 6:46 remaining in the third quarter. Volin believes that the gameplan more so incorporated Ridley because the Patriots wanted to execute the power run game, which goes to show the ever-changing New England offense and that it was no victimization of Vereen.
"Midway through the fourth quarter Ridley had 20 carries for just 66 yards. Early in the game on the goal line, Ridley got stuffed from the 1-yard line, then barely got over the goal line on the next attempt while getting crushed. And twice Ridley was stuffed on third and 1, forcing the Patriots to punt," Volin wrote, and that could be good news for Vereen and his fantasy owners heading into Week 3.
