Well, the QB situation could be worse - right?

"But at the same time," he added, "we know who's starting now, and we're all behind him."

Eventually, though, Smith will return and the carousel will start again. Yet the fact that no one knows when that will be is itself another oddity. Injury is almost easy to account for; illness, not so much. Unlike if he were dealing with a pulled muscle or torn ligament, Smith's timetable is as indefinite as it gets.

He still deserves a chance to pick up where he left off, and you can imagine coach John Harbaugh pulling his hair out if Flacco is playing well when Smith does come back.

But having that to worry about will be a luxury. Sweating over two potential starting quarterbacks beats hoping you'll eventually have two who know which player to line up behind.

And, as at least one previous NFL team has taught us, it beats having one quarterback wearing an orange jumpsuit. So the Ravens have that going for them.

Listen to David Steele on Wednesdays at 9 a.m. on WNST (1570 AM).