The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ran the ball just nineteen times against the New Orleans Saints, three of those runs being Jameis Winston scrambles. Doug Martin racked up 81 rushing yards on just 11 carries, and the failure to give him the ball has quickly been identified as a major culprit in the Bucs' loss. Rick Stroud wrote about it, asking how "when the Saints ran Tim Hightower 28 times, how does the NFL's second-leading rusher only get 11 carries," while Ira Kaufman went with the statistical approach: apparently, the Bucs are 2-21 over the past five years when attempting 20 or fewer rushing plays.
A failure to run Doug Martin is not causing the Buccaneers to lose games
