Raiders’ Doug Martin gets his chance. What he’s saying about his opportunity

Doug Martin finally has his chance.

The seven-year NFL running back will get the start when the Oakland Raiders (1-5) host the Indianapolis Colts (2-5) at 1:05 p.m. Sunday at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

It has been the start the Oakland native has been waiting for, albeit because of injury to Marshawn Lynch who was put on injured reserve this week.

“I have a lot of miles left on here,” Martin told reporters. “With injuries and games that I wasn’t able to play in previous years, I’ve still got a lot of miles on these wheels. Can’t wait.”

Martin started 65 games since entering the league out of Boise State in 2012. But Martin has faced numerous injuries — though nothing serious.

▪ In 2013, he had a shoulder labrum tear in Week 7 that forced him to miss the rest of the season.

▪ In 2014, he suffered a knee patella sprain in early September, resulting in missing two games. He then had an ankle sprain in late October. He missed the next three games.

▪ In 2016, he had two injuries: hamstring strain in early September and had to leave the game and he re-aggravated his hamstring and ended up missing three games.

▪ In 2017, he missed one game because of a concussion.

Needless to say, Martin is ready to show he can still produce at 29-years-old.

“I signed over here for a full year, so it’s definitely an opportunity to show the rest of the league, the Raiders and everybody — all my doubters — that I can still play,” he said.

For his career, Martin has 4,732 yards and 26 touchdowns.

He’s had success at the Coliseum before. In his rookie season in 2012, Martin had 25 carries for 251 yards and four touchdowns in Tampa Bay’s 42-32 victory over the Raiders.

Martin will share time with Jalen Richard and DeAndre Washington and is looking to help guide the Raiders to a win.

“Nobody wants to lose,” he said. “Nobody wants to lose multiple games. Right now we’re playing for each other. It’s not too late. We still have a lot of games left. We have a lot of guys that have a lot of pride on this team. We’re not going to go down without a fight and we’re going to play to the best to our ability.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2018 at 4:26 PM.