TAMPA, Fla. -- Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Todd Monken indicated Wednesday that not only was it good to have Jacquizz Rodgers back Sunday against the San Diego Chargers, but he could see added playing time this weekend against the New Orleans Saints.

"It was good to get him back," Monken said. "I would assume he'll only be better this week in a little more of an expanded role."

Monken also emphasized that the rushing attack has to improve."We have been getting healthier at running back, which is a good sign," he said. "We've just got to do it better. We've got to do a better job on the perimeter blocking. We've got to do a better job up front, a better job seeing the holes."

After missing four weeks with a sprained foot, Jacquizz Rodgers Rodgers returned last Sunday and averaged 4.14 yards per rush. Orlando Ramirez/USA TODAY Sports

Rodgers had stepped in for injured Doug Martin and Charles Sims, getting his first start in Week 5 against the Carolina Panthers. He averaged 108 rushing yards in three starts before missing four weeks due to a sprained foot.

Martin is now back healthy and Sims, who was the third-down back when the season began, will likely return this week from injured reserve.

Rodgers said before practice Wednesday that he wasn't aware of any role change for him, but Sunday's tape indicates it might be warranted. Rodgers rushed for 29 yards on seven carries, averaging 4.14 yards per rush, with 9 of his rushing yards (31 percent) coming after contact. He also tacked on a 21-yard catch. Even with eight defenders in the box, which happened on three of his seven touches, he averaged 3.67 yards per carry.

In the second quarter, on a third-and-22 from the San Diego 27-yard line, he burst through the middle for a 14-yard run, setting up a 31-yard field goal attempt by Roberto Aguayo that sailed wide right. But it was in the fourth quarter that Rodgers got most of his opportunities. When Martin suffered a minor injury, Rodgers went from being merely a third-down back to getting work on first and second downs.

On first-and-10 from the San Diego 38-yard line, Rodgers took a short pass from Jameis Winston and ran it 21 yards. He followed that with a 5-yard run up the middle. Those two plays set up Winston's 12-yard touchdown pass to Cameron Brate to regain the lead.

Martin, the starter, rushed for 45 yards on 17 carries, including a 2-yard touchdown. Only twice did the Chargers defense stacked the box against Martin, and he averaged 2.0 yards per rush, while 34 of Martin's rushing yards (76 percent) came after first contact. So defenders were getting to Martin, although he showed great effort, especially on the touchdown.

Rodgers looked fresher overall, though, which, coupled with Martin's injury, is perhaps why he started getting the ball more in the fourth quarter. He may just cut into Martin's touches this week, depending on the game flow and level of production early on.

As far as the injury goes, Martin said Wednesday that he's "fine" and practiced with the team with no limitations. He wasn't even on the injury report.

It's unclear what the Bucs will do on third down, assuming Sims does return, especially given how depleted the receiving corps currently is. Koetter wouldn't indicate what direction they were going at running back or if there would be a workload adjustment this week.

"To be honest with you, I really don't want to tell you," Koetter said. "It wouldn't be helping our team for me to tell you that. I will say we need to run the football better. I'm not trying to be a jerk about it. It's just, for me to tell the world our problems would not be doing us any good. We need to run the ball better. We need to run it better at the end of the year. That's gonna be a point of emphasis for us this week. But me saying it and us doing it are two different things."

When asked about Rodgers' performance, Koetter said, "He did a good job. He did a really nice job. Jacquizz is a good football player. And we said a few times right now that we went very-thin at halfback to we're-much-deeper right now."