Doug Martin Injury Scare Won't Diminish His Fantasy Value in Week 2 vs. Rams

Fantasy enthusiasts awaited the return of Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Doug Martin this season after an injury-shortened 2013 halted the momentum he produced during his 1,454-yard, 11-touchdown rookie season.

Unfortunately, he didn't exactly produce a noteworthy performance in his first outing of 2014.

Martin rushed nine times for nine yards and added one reception for seven yards in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers. That disastrous showing led to fantasy owners scratching their heads. To make matters worse, Martin suffered a knee injury; although, it was nothing more than a scare, according to head coach Lovie Smith, who addressed the matter during an interview on WDAE-AM (via Dan Hanzus of NFL.com):

"

Doug did go down with a little minor injury there, so we had to make a change, and from there he was able to come back and he was ready to go. Bobby (Rainey) had come and had given us a little bit of life, and as I've mentioned we want to play more than one running back throughout. So it was just a perfect time to keep both of them involved.

"

There was speculation Martin was benched due to a missed blitz pickup by Steve Gallo of USA Today; however, Martin had an interesting reaction to that statement, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times:

There's also a third wrinkle in this situation that bodes well for Martin going forward. That would be Bobby Rainey's performance.

While Rainey did score on a short receiving touchdown, he only amassed 12 yards on four carries—an average of 3.0 yards per rush—against Carolina. Also, a lost fumble late in the game that sealed the loss for the Buccaneers isn't exactly a cause for confidence going forward.

Martin was expected to receive the bulk of the workload this season, and heading in to the team's Week 2 contest against the St. Louis Rams, that still hasn't changed, as all signs indicate he will be good to go. Roy Cummings of The Tampa Tribune tweeted some good news:

Martin appeared ready to go as well, via the team's official Twitter account:

So, why start the ball-carrier after a lackluster Week 1 showing that resulted in injury?

Martin faced the Panthers' dominant front seven in his team's home opener. That same unit finished second in the league in 2013 against the run, allowing an average of just 86.9 points per game. For fantasy purposes, Carolina also allowed the fifth-fewest points to running backs last season at 13.8 per game, according to FFToday.com.

To say he has a better matchup against St. Louis in Week 2 may be the understatement of the year.

The Rams are known for their impressive pass rush; however, they haven't exactly been a force against the run in recent seasons. While they did finish ninth in the league against the run in 2013, the team also allowed an average of 21.1 fantasy points per game to ball-carriers, good enough for 27th in the league.

Anthony Benoit of Sports Illustrated tweeted one reason why:

St. Louis' defended the run successfully against the Vikings—as long as the ball-carrier's name was Adrian Peterson (75 yards on 21 carries). But there was a totally different result if that runner's name was Cordarrelle Patterson, who ripped off 102 yards on just three carries, including a scintillating 67-yard TD scamper. 

Heading into Sunday, St. Louis is ranked 28th in the league against the run. Perhaps Martin has an opportunity for a huge fantasy day. This tweet from Rotoworld's Adam Levitan should only increase confidence in the running back:

Fantasy owners shouldn't allow Martin's Week 1 showing to deter them from starting the running back in Week 2. He's still a great option going forward, and we can expect him to prove just that on Sunday.