Here are five reasons why sitting Doug Martin on Sunday is the right move for the Buccaneers.
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There is a lot of debate in the world of the Buccaneers over the last couple of days, and with good reason. For anyone not following the news yesterday, it appears that Doug Martin will be inactive for Sunday’s game against the Panthers.
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times talked about the situation on Monday, even posing that Martin’s career in Tampa could be in doubt.
Coach Koetter has been quiet about the subject to date, not wanting to give anything away. Here is his quote, via NFL.com:
"“Right now, I’m not going to say anything about who’s going to play this week because I don’t want to do Carolina any favors as to who we’re going to play,” Koetter said, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “As you said, last week, we made a decision for the Saints game based on what I thought was best for our team that week. We’ll do the same thing this week.”"
That doesn’t give away much, but there are other clues. You also heard that Cameron Brate was put on injured reserve, ending his productive season. Russell Hansbrough was signed off of the Giants practice squad to fill his spot. That gives the Bucs a pretty full depth chart for Sunday’s game without Martin.
All evidence is that Stroud is right.
Let’s talk about the game at hand, and leave the future speculation in the future.
Is this the right move? Earlier today, James Yarcho released his opinion that this should be an unpopular decision because it’s a bad one. I have a different take. I believe it to be a good move.
Here’s why: