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Fantasy Football Week 8 Start or Sit: RB Doug Martin

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By @WaltYeboah

Doug Martin worth a Week 8 Fantasy Football Start

Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

For Doug Martin, it’s now or never. If you drafted Martin with a high pick in your fantasy football league, then you’ll probably agree with me when I say that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ “star” running back has been one of the biggest disappointments in the NFL.

In four appearances, Martin has only manged to average 2.9 yards per carry and his lone touchdown on the year speaks volumes about the pitiful season that he’s having in 2014. Martin was a huge disappointment to fantasy owners last season as well because he got off to a slow start, and then suffered a labral tear in his left shoulder which ruled him out for the season.

Now it’s looking like 2013 all over again, but the Bucs don’t need Martin to get hurt in order to keep him on the sidelines — they just need to bench him. Bobby Rainey has totally outclassed Martin in the running game and in the short passing game with his team-leading 262 rushing yards and 16 receptions (third best on team).

Rainey is averaging 4.9 yards per carry, but if the Buccaneers aren’t impressed with his numbers, then they can always turn to unproven rookie RB Charles Sims, who will be eligible for activation on Nov. 2, after he spent time on Tampa Bay’s IR/designated to return list.

The Bucs are a joke and head coach Lovie Smith doesn’t have a clue as to what he’s doing with his obvious RB replacement situation. The only NFL coach that’s more clueless than Smith is Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith, who keeps on inexplicably giving Steven Jackson the lion’s share of the touches when Antone Smith should clearly be higher on his backfield priority list. Evidently, it’s a Smith thing (sorry, Antone).

However, if you want to be a fantasysmith or an expert, sit Martin in Week 8 when the Bucs face off agasint the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings are terrible, but they can actually defend the pass (ranked ninth) and they’re not bad at running the ball either (ranked 10th) which means that they will control the tempo of the game.

Tampa Bay, on the other hand, is ranked near the bottom of the league in every meaningful category on both sides of the ball. Simply put, they can’t do anything right and if Martin has another predictable, abysmal fantasy performance on Sunday, you might have just been better off making room for Rainey or Sims on your bench before the game even kicked off.

Walton Yeboah-Amoako is a Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @WaltYeboah, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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