Buccaneers vs. Raiders 2012: Tampa Bay fans praise Doug Martin's historic day

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were on the right side of a 42-32 shootout against the Oakland Raiders in Week 9. Bucs running back Doug Martin had an enormous game, rushing for 251 yards and four touchdowns on 25 carries. The Bucs needed that performance, because Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer threw four touchdown passes of his own.

Three of Martin's four touchdowns were at least 45 yards, and as SB Nation's Bucs blog Bucs Nation points out, that's an NFL record:

Doug is Boss. That was the breaking news headline Sander put up after yesterday's game and truer words were never spoken. Tell me Buc fans - do you realize what you witnessed yesterday? No running back in the history of the NFL has had 3 rushing touchdowns of 45 yds or more in a single game. Not Jim Brown. Not Sweetness. Not Barry Sanders or Gayle Sayers. Not Emmitt. Not AP. No one has done what Doug Martin did on Sunday.

It's pretty remarkable that in a league filled with so many great running backs in its history, Martin comes in and sets this mark in his rookie season. Martin had shown signs of breaking out in a big way the week before against the Minnesota Vikings, but it's unlikely anybody envisioned this type of performance was around the corner.

Tampa Bay now sits at 4-4 and are alive and well in the playoff chase. The Bucs are still four games behind the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South, but they are just a half-game back of the second NFC wild card. The Bucs host the San Diego Chargers in Week 10.