Ravens: 5 things we have learned 5 things we haven’t learned

Learned: Marshal Yanda is impossible to immediately replace:

The Ravens couldn’t just roll into this season and expect it to be like it was because things are different. Fine. What is so different? For starters, the Ravens were without Marshal Yanda. Yanda retired after last season and his replacement hasn’t really been found. Tyre Phillips was the placeholder until he got hurt and placed on the injured reserve. Phillips played a lot less proficiently than the future Hall of fame guard.

The Baltimore offense found out how good Yanda really was. They found out the hard way. Yanda was a premium talent who made this line look better than it probably was. Without Yanda, even before the injury bug, it’s been a lot worse.

Haven’t learned: What the offensive line will look like in the future

What is the future of the offensive line? That’s a serious question that Eric DeCosta has to be mulling over. The Ravens have a lot of young players at the interior offensive line positions. At this point, DeCosta cannot bank on any of them. Not only do the Ravens not have an immediate replacement for Yanda, but they could potentially have a problem finding one for a while.

Matt Skura has not has as good of a season at the center position and that’s not just an overreaction to his bad snaps against New England. Orlando Brown Jr. is helping his future price tag being adequate at left tackle, so that’s something to watch. The Ravens will want to keep Brown Jr. and they have time to worry about that later. Still, will he be included in the inevitable soft reboot of this offensive line?

The only thing the Ravens really know is that they have a franchise left tackle in Ronnie Stanley, who they inked to an extension. Stanley will be back from injury next season, but you can make the argument that the four other spots on the line have no long-term answer locked in.