Bernard Pierce's Fantasy Football Outlook After Ravens RB's Week 2 Rebound

Bernard Pierce struggled mightily in the Baltimore Ravens' Week 1 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, a game that featured 62 pass attempts by Joe Flacco. He bounced back with a performance more representative of his 2014 fantasy value in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.

Baltimore got back to a more traditional offensive approach with 36 rushes compared to 29 throws by Flacco. Pierce received a majority of those touches in the ground game. He finished the night with 96 yards on 22 carries and one grab for seven yards.

He didn't find the end zone, so his fantasy score of nine was nothing more than average. That said, the workload is a major positive. There were concerns coming out of the opener about Justin Forsett potentially taking on a more prominent role.

Pierce lost a fumble, which caused him to get just six touches against the Bengals. Jamison Hensley of ESPN noted head coach John Harbaugh went back to the Temple product to open this week's game:

He responded by running hard between the tackles and setting a much better offensive tone for the Ravens. His 23 touches were 11 more than Forsett, and Lorenzo Taliaferro, who's been mentioned as a potential third head for the backfield monster, didn't get a single carry.

Based on the way things have played out over the first two weeks, it appears Baltimore is going to give Pierce every chance to carry the load as long as he protects the ball. Since he has just one fumble in 316 career touches, it shouldn't be a serious issue.

It was an important effort from Pierce. Another lackluster performance and the Ravens likely would have opted to reconsider their options in the 10 days before their next game.

Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun passed along comments from him after the game. Pierce admitted the poor outing last week provided some added motivation.

"I definitely had to bounce back from last week," Pierce said. "What a difference from last week. I knew I was going to get called on and I was really focused to correct the mistakes I made from last week.

"It's nothing personal. It was business, and I didn't take care of business last week. I knew I messed up. It's my job to come back strong next week. I had a job to do. I was counting on, 'Don't do a repeat of last week.' Just hold on to the ball, and everything would be fine."

His return to form doesn't mean there won't be value elsewhere in the Ravens backfield.

Forsett is still worth a roster spot, especially in PPR leagues. He averaged seven yards per carry in a change-of-pace role and is also getting a lot of work on the passing downs. He's caught nine passes through two games.

Taliaferro is best left on the waiver wire now outside of the deepest leagues. It's worth keeping an eye on him, though. He could eventually work his way into goal-line duty should Pierce be unable to start cashing in his chances from inside the 10.

But Pierce emerged as the lead back on Thursday night. He should have No. 2 running back value moving forward. That will definitely be the case next week against the Cleveland Browns, which ranked 18th against the run last year and gave up 127 yards in Week 1.

It's exactly what Pierce's fantasy owners were hoping for when they selected him in the middle rounds.