Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin showed flashes of stardom in Week 5 in his teams big 38-31 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Martin was an absolutely superstar as a rookie back in the 2012 season with the Buccaneers. He looked like the future for the Buccaneers' offense and they were hoping to get consistency out of him and be a long-term piece of the puzzle. That hasn't ended up happening, as he has been extremely inconsistent over the past couple of seasons.
Seeing him bounce back with this huge performance is a big step in the right direction. Tampa Bay has a rookie quarterback under center in Jameis Winston and having Martin step up alongside of him would be a massive step in the right direction for the future of the Tampa Bay franchise.
During the game against the Jaguars, Martin ended up carrying the football 24 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon while also catching three passes for 35 yards and a touchdown.
Those are the type of numbers that can take an offense from being a contender to being dynamic. Winston isn't capable of putting up massive games each and every week, but he is capable of having solid games every week. One of the only things that could help his development even more is having a legitimate ground game that is able to balance the offense out.
Love Smith has to be very excited about the potential of having Martin back on track. Having a ground game is something that he hasn't had in a long time and it could completely change the way that he runs his offense.
At 26 years old, Martin is in the physical prime of his career and he is showing big improvements in all aspects of his game. Tampa Bay is finally seeing the type of star caliber running that they saw in him just a couple short years ago. Martin is more than capable of putting up these big numbers every week that he takes the field, but he still has some work to do on his consistency.
All of that being said, it will be interesting to see what ends up happening in their next game against the Washington Redskins.
Expect to see the Buccaneers continue pounding the ground with Martin following this type of a big game. They are very excited to see him finally showing off his full talent again and they are hoping that they can continue helping him reach that level of play. Martin has to use this past week as a building block for the future and continue working hard to not fall back again.
