Ravens' new role? Ray Rice says it's Joe Flacco's offense now

Even though Ray Rice carried the ball only 10 times in the opening week, he says he is comfortable with his role on the team. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

The Baltimore Ravens are taking a departure from years past where they won with a bruising running game and playing suffocating defense.

Now that Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is engineering a no-huddle offense, running back Ray Rice says he is fine with his new role.

"Coming into this year, it was Joe Flacco's offense," Rice told the Baltimore Sun. "It starts with him, and we just follow his lead."

Flacco had 29 passing attempts for 299 yards and two touchdowns in the Monday night victory against Cincinnati and Rice carried the ball 10 times for 68 yards and caught three passes for 25 yards.

"My role is never changing. My role is actually making other guys better," Rice said. "When teams come in and they forget about me, I have the capability of lighting them up. What we're doing right now, other guys — not that they've never stepped up — they're just making the plays that they've always been capable of making. When you have me in the game, they have to respect it."