Buccaneers coach Lovie Smith suggested in a radio interview that he preferred using running back Bobby Rainey in the fourth quarter Week 1 even though Doug Martin was "ready to go" after sustaining a "minor" knee injury.
"Doug did go down with a little minor injury there, so we had to make a change, and from there he was able to come back and he was ready to go," Smith said on WDAE-AM 620. "Bobby had come and had given us a little bit of life, and as I've mentioned we want to play more than one running back throughout. So it was just a perfect time to keep both of them involved."
Martin ran nine times for 9 yards in the loss to Carolina. After the injury he did not get a handoff, though he was targeted once. He said after the game that he needs to "wait and see" how severe his injury is.