Last season, the Bucs suffered when Earnest Graham went down injured. LeGarrette Blount, while a very good runner, didn't seem to be trusted in the passing game, he picked up very good yards when he was left in the field though. 

He also didn't get Josh Freeman killed. It was somewhat surprising that he wasn't given a greater role in the passing game, it would have kept defences on edge somewhat, defences knew if Kregg Lumpkin was in the backfield it was going to be a pass. Blount had a decent season, he amassed decent rushing numbers, in spite only starting 14 games (he missed 2 through injury). 

As the Bucs defence was so porous, the rushing game had to be abandoned early on. The Bucs had to air it out as they constantly played catch up. Blount's main issue last year was his fumbling. He fumbled 5 times and 3 were recovered by opponents. At times, (in the game against the Tennessee Titans for example) Blount seemed to take on too much. 

He dragged 3/4 defenders with him and the next man in knocked the ball out, he needed to learn to get down, and take the 5/6 yards. Fumbling is an easily correctable problem however, and with Greg Schiano a man who seems to preach ball security, will probably be telling that to the RB coach.

Blount needs to control some anger issues as well. There is TV footage of him punching fellow players in the face on three separate occasions. One was during his time in College (that incident was one of the main reason he went undrafted), he also hit a Tennessee Titan player when he was in camp with the team during his rookie season. In a game against the Saints last season Blount lost his cool and hit New Orleans Saints Defensive End Will Smith. At a critical point in the game Blount didn't stay cool. He seems to get easily wound up by opponents. 

Now onto Doug Martin, the Bucs traded their second while swapping 4ths with Broncos in order to get him. Martin has been compared to many different players, Ray Rice being one of them. Rice was part of Schiano's programme at Rutgers so that might have been part of the reason for grabbing him. We don't really know if Blount can catch or pass protect as he had very few chances to do so in the NFL but Martin seems to be an "every down" back. He has decent speed but his acceleration is what makes him stand out. He is quick off the mark and can make defenders miss with ease. His "juke" or sidestep as Europeans would call it is something special. While they may be different sports, I see parallels between Martin's moves and Jason Robinson. "Billy Whizz" was a star in both Rugby Union and Rugby League, excelling at full back and on the wing. Robinson won a World Cup in 2003 with England. He was noted for his acceleration too. Here are clips Robinson and Doug Martin in action. You can see that both have devastating sidesteps  

So I would expect Doug Martin to start come week one against the Carolina Panthers but to succeed today you need two running backs. While I think Martin could be a lot better than Ahmad Bradshaw, he and Blount could form a duo like Bradshaw has with Brandon Jacobs, for the Buccaneers. Martin would get a lot more touches and be a bigger part of the offence but Blount would play a big part. If the Bucs are a run heavy team as Greg Schiano has promised they would be then I think you could see them exceed the numbers of the now broken up Big Blue duo. 

It's also no surprise that Josh Freeman's best season at Quarterback came when the Bucs had a strong running game. With even better weapons, and arguably a stronger running game, Freeman could shine this year. With some improvements made on the defence, Freeman mightn't be forced to air it out as often. Some of the problems Freeman had last year were from having to force to ball to receivers who weren't open. Why? The Buccaneers were down by a lot due to their defence acting like a sieve. Their only option was to throw the ball.

With some improvements made on the defence (drafting Mark Barron and Lavonte David) I think the Bucs will most definitely improve on last season. They have created depth in an area where they were hit with injuries (defensive tackle) so you would think that they should perform better if Gerald McCoy or Brian Price go down. This should hopefully give the Bucs a chance "to pound the rock" and with guys like Doug Martin and LeGarette Blount, it's hard to see them not shattering it! 

It could be like the old Buccaneer duo of Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn, so-called "Thunder and Lightning". With their 2012 7th round pick the Bucs selected Michael Smith , the Bucs seem to have a solid running back corp. Smith has sensational speed that makes him incredibly elusive. He mightn't get many touches on the offensive side but he should be a good special teams guy. 
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