2. Why was the offensive line so problematic
Can anybody explain to me why it took so long for John Harbaugh to turn to Ben Powers at right guard? The second-year player out of Oklahoma gave the offensive line a boost but it took 11 games before the Ravens let him do his thing. The season could have gone a lot smoother if the coaching staff would have just figured this out in the beginning. Instead, it was Plan C for the offensive line.
What happened at the center position? Ravens fans spent the offseason hoping that Matt Skura would be able to be back for the regular season. Skura went from being a dependable center on the rise to being problematic with bad snaps. Skura went from being the perfect center for this kind of an offense to a player that may be out the door.
Patrick Mekari struggled with bad snaps as well. The future at this position is up in the air. You could easily argue that it’s the top need of the team this offseason. Do the Ravens go with Trystan Colon-Castillo? He looked solid in a very limited sample size. Do they turn to the NFL Draft? This is a big area of doubt.
I could never have imagined that Ronnie Stanley would go down for a big chunk of the season, and that wouldn’t even be in the top two problems for this offensive line. Orlando Brown Jr. was rock solid for most of his stay at left tackle. Brown Jr. and Bozeman made a solid left side of the line. The right side was the problem, an experiment that included Powers, Tyree Phillips, D.J. Fluker, and even had a cameo from Will Holden.
The offensive line had their problems. Some of them were because of injuries. Some of these problems seemed to come out of nowhere. It felt like the Ravens made this more complicated than it needed to be. The Ravens went into the season confident in the offensive line despite knowing they needed to replace Marshal Yanda. It was always going to be interesting, it didn’t need to be this interesting.