Joe Flacco's Fantasy Value in Week 7: Why the Offense Will Continue Producing

About 10 to 15 percent of fantasy owners started Joe Flacco in Week 6 against a pitiable Tampa Bay Buccaneers team.

You know the rest of the story.

Those fantasy owners, whether they were shrewd statistical geniuses, overzealous Flacco fans or just people who don't really pay attention to their fantasy teams, were rewarded with five touchdowns (all in the first half) and over 300 yards passing.

The question now becomes: Will he continue to produce good offensive numbers?

It's not a question of whether or not Flacco will have another five-touchdown game, because no one really expects that of him. But more so, will he remain fantasy-relevant, and could this mark the beginning of his taking a central role in the Baltimore Ravens offense?

You can bank on Flacco continuing to put up good numbers and to spearhead the Ravens offense for a few reasons.

Ray Rice is Gone

For the past several years, Baltimore's game plan has been centered around strong defense and a powerful running game. The nucleus of that running game was a guy by the name of Raymell Mourice Rice.

Perhaps you've heard of him?

Now that he's gone, the Ravens' identity is changing. Even with a capable backfield at the hands of Justin Forsett and Bernard Pierce, Baltimore isn't a run-first team anymore.

That means more of the offensive responsibility is falling on Flacco's shoulders.

Without Rice this year, Flacco is posting a 63.6 completion percentage and a 97.8 rating, both the best of his career to date. In that same six-game span he's added 12 touchdowns and only three interceptions, numbers that were of course boosted by the five-TD performance against Tampa Bay, but still remarkably good.

CMP	ATT	YDS	TD	INT
140	220	1596	12	3

The absence of Rice has indirectly and subtly benefited Flacco because it has required him to be more than a facilitator.

He's acclimating to a new style of offense that Baltimore is going to need to continue to implement if they want to stay competitive in the AFC.

In short, he'll need to keep throwing the football.

Steve Smith and His Fountain of Youth

Steve Smith somehow went from being an almost irrelevant fantasy commodity as Cam Newton's No. 1 receiver in 2013, to being the third best fantasy WR through the last six weeks under Flacco. I'm willing to say that nobody saw that coming.

For whatever reason, be it luck, preparedness or perhaps just new scenery, Smith seems to have found the proverbial fountain of youth and developed remarkable chemistry with his new quarterback.

Evan Vucci/Associated Press

Smith's four 100-yard games and as many TDs have boosted Flacco's value tremendously and more than made up for the absence of injured tight end Dennis Pitta, whom Flacco relied on heavily during the team's 2012 Super Bowl run.

"

Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, but FIVE touchdown passes for Joe Flacco. This time to Steve Smith Sr for the 56 yard score. BAL 35 TB 0

— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) October 12, 2014"

Fantasy owners who might be nervous to start Flacco in the coming weeks can look at Smith as a bit of a security blanket. And though far from a guarantee, his success speaks well of the offensive system that has been established in Baltimore.

The Atlanta Falcons Secondary

In the short term, you can feel good about starting Flacco simply because he's playing the Atlanta Falcons, who rank 29th in allowed passing yardage, in Week 7. This looks like another potentially great game for Smith and the Baltimore pass-catchers.

By extension, one could speculate that Flacco will reap the benefits of Atlanta's poor defending that has allowed a league high eight plays of 40 or more yards (via NFL.com).

Flacco's not getting close to (or exceeding) the 300-yard mark against the Falcons would be statistically improbable.

Moving Forward with Flacco

After this week, the Ravens go into Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and two weeks later into New Orleans. That doesn't look great for Flacco, but the Ravens finish the season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans and Cleveland Browns.

So if your fantasy team is bleeding at QB and you need a safe bet to coast into the playoffs, Flacco isn't a bad option, even if you expect him to regress after such a great game.

Start him and keep expectations reasonable.

He could always surprise you with another five-TD game.

Bobby Kittleberger writes about fantasy football for The FF White Papers . You can get in touch with him via Twitter.