BALTIMORE -- Of all the injuries that the Baltimore Ravens have endured this season -- and there have been plenty of them -- none is as devastating as the season-ending ankle injury to guard Marshal Yanda.
Yanda is among the best linemen in the NFL. He is a valuable leader. He is a renowned tough guy who is viewed as indestructible.
Now, just two games into the season, the Ravens go from Yanda, a six-time Pro Bowl blocker, to Tony Berstrom, a career backup who has made four starts and has disillusionment about the challenging task ahead.
"Are you asking: Are there big shoes to fill?" Bergstrom said after Baltimore's 24-10 win over the Cleveland Browns. "These [size] 14 boots don't even compare to the shoes you have to fill with him."
To add even more perspective, Yanda hasn't allowed a sack since Oct. 26, 2015, and Bergstrom hasn't started a game since Dec. 16, 2015.
The Ravens traded a conditional seventh-round pick at the end of the preseason to the Arizona Cardinals for Bergstrom because starting left guard Alex Lewis (shoulder) and top backups on the interior -- John Urschel (retirement) and Nico Siragusa (knee) -- were lost for the season this summer.
The injury news for the line got worse Sunday, when a Browns defender rolled up on the lower part of Yanda's left leg at the start of the second half. He fractured his ankle and was declared out for the season by coach John Harbaugh.
That led to a sobering initiation for Bergstrom, who only joined Baltimore 17 days ago.
"You get out there for the first time, and Joe sounds like he's speaking Spanish out there in the huddle," Bergstrom said. "You gotta go, 'Joe [Flacco, quarterback] slow down and enunciate.'
Bergstrom, 31, is on his fourth team in three seasons. On Sunday, he played 32 snaps in Yanda's absence, finishing with a grade of 44.7, according to Pro Football Focus. Yanda has consistently been one of the top guards in the NFL, grading out at 90.0 or higher in five of the last six years.
"I know he’s capable, and he did a good job for us [Sunday] stepping up and filling in," said right tackle Austin Howard, who played alongside Bergstrom for two seasons with the Oakland Raiders (2014-15). "He only got here a week-and-a-half or two weeks ago, and that’s not a lot of time. He’s capable of coming out and getting through the week and focusing in on all the details to get ready for the game."
The loss of Yanda put a damper on the Ravens' second win of the season. It also shocked some players.
Yanda is one of the toughest players in the league. He once volunteered to be zapped by a stun gun three times on a $600 bet, and he's only missed five games in eight-plus seasons.
"It's always tough to see a guy like -- especially a leader and a future Hall of Famer like Marshal Yanda -- get hurt," left tackle Ronnie Stanley said. "You kind of view those kids as invincible. Those guys are just human like we all are. So, we just have to come to that reality and keep pushing."
The hope is to get Bergstrom up to speed by the time the Ravens play the Jacksonville Jaguars in London on Sunday.
Flacco is dealing with a lower back injury, and Baltimore has to make sure it can protect him. The Jaguars rank No. 7 in most sacks since the start of the 2016 season, totaling 44 in 18 games (an average of 2.4 per game).
"I'm getting there," Bergstrom said of his comfort level. "You still wake up and go, 'Where am I?'"