What's that? Buccaneers running back Doug Martin ran for 96 yards on 14 carries Week 15 at Carolina. Sweet Moses, he's back!
Whoa now, slow your roll. More than two-thirds of those yards came on a 63-yard run on his second carry of the game. On the other 13, he averaged just 2.5 yards.
Now obviously, some running backs rely on long runs to bring up their yards per carry, so isolating those runs under the assumption they're some sort of fluke isn't the fairest way to assess a rusher's performance. But long runs aren't the norm for Martin. That 63-yarder was his first of 20-plus all season.
This performance was similar to the 58-yard game he had Week 13 against Cincinnati. He seemed like he was poised for a big numbers when he gained 46 yards on his first 10 carries, but it was largely skewed by a 10-yard run he had early on. He had just 18 yards on eight carries the rest of the way.
By now, Fantasy owners should have a pretty good idea who Martin is, and it's not someone they should be looking to start in a 12-team league.