Joe Thomas on the difference between player and fan perspective
December 19, 2014Board Game Review: Alhambra
December 19, 2014Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year is an annual must-read. Sadly, that the national recognition rarely has anything to do with the teams or individuals whom we cover. In turn, WFNY will soon announce its choice for 2014’s Cleveland Sportsman of the Year. Here’s one of the nominations for that honor by an WFNY writer.
There are not many positions in any sport that impact a game more than left tackles on a football field, yet receive less praise and recognition for excelling at their job. But, this never seems to bother Joe Thomas. The former Wisconsin Badgers lineman spent the day fishing with his family and close friend rather than attending the NFL Draft in New York City. He has played under five different head coaches and countless quarterbacks, general managers and offensive coordinators, yet never publicly says a negative word about the organization. Thomas simply goes to work sixteen Sundays a year and plays his position better than anyone else on the face of the earth.
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As of Thursday morning, Thomas was the leading Pro Bowl vote-receiving tackle in the league. If he wins, it will be his eighth Pro Bowl appearance in eight NFL seasons. He has also been named an All-Pro four times with a likely fifth selection to be announced after the season commences. Even in the seasons which he was not a first team All-Pro, he was placed on the second-team. Simply put, the thirty year old tackle has had one of the greatest careers of a left tackle of all-time. And all this success has come despite blocking for thirteen different starting quarterbacks including Brandon Weeden, Charlie Frye, and Seneca Wallace.
But, the consistency of Thomas’s immaculate career is not why he is my Sportsman of the Year. I chose Thomas because this may be his best season of all. Before the Buffalo Bills game in which he uncharacteristically committed three holding penalties and struggled with Buffalo’s elite defense, this claim was nearly indisputable. He has only allowed one sack in fourteen games and has stuffed the opposition’s pass rush every single week. This is not surprising. The area that improvement in was unexpected is in his run blocking.
Perhaps Kyle Shanahan’s new zone-blocking running scheme suits Joe Thomas better than any system the many other coaches have run. Maybe, having rookie phenom Joel Bitonio playing beside the veteran has helped. But whatever the reasoning, Thomas has become a dominant run-blocker. It is no surprise that Pro Football Focus gives him the highest overall and run blocking grades of any offensive tackle thus far in the 2014 season. It is hard to use numbers to explain how well an offensive line plays, but before center Alex Mack broke his leg, we received a brief glimpse of what the best offensive line in the league looks like. When everything clicks, as it did in the first two games of the season, the zone running scheme is beautiful. Despite the running game steeply declining, Joe Thomas has continued to dominate and become arguably the best left tackle in pass protection and run blocking.
When Mack got hurt against the Steelers, the offensive linemen were not only hurt as a football team, but as a group of friends, nearly brothers. After the game, Thomas gave stood at his locker to speak to the media, but had tears in his eyes. He spoke about the effect of the injury saying, “There’s no more Alex Macks in the NFL. When you’re the best center, it’s going to be a step down no matter who’s coming in to replace you.” And, he was right. The Browns have gone 4-5 since their star center went down and will likely miss the playoffs once again. Of course, not all of their losses have been due to Nick McDonald, Paul McQuistan, and Ryan Seymour failing as they attempt to replace Mack. But, they do not come close to have the impact of Mack in the middle of the line. The entire offense has nosedived.
I want to mention this disappointing part of the season to help dictate the impact that great offensive linemen have on the success of a team. It is so easy to take for granted the Joe Thomas’s and Alex Mack’s of the world since no play they make directly makes it on the stat sheet. Heck, even during the telecast the offensive line is usually ignored unless, of course, they get penalized, give up a sack, or whiff on a block. Browns fans have, unfortunately, seen many of these low-lights in the past couple months. But, in the nearly eight seasons, no one has complained that Cleveland’s long line of terrible quarterbacks have not succeeded due to over-whelming pressure form opposing pass rushers. No one has moaned about the lack of talent at left tackle, arguably the second most important position on offense. Maybe, fan outcry is the public measuring stick and if that’s the case, Thomas dominates the metric. He likely has two or three more seasons as a great left tackle before starting to decline. In the meantime, appreciate the level of greatness that Joe Thomas displays because he is the best offensive lineman to ever play for the Browns and is unlikely to be surpassed any time soon.
Obviously, since Lebron James exists, Joe Thomas does not have a chance at winning the vote to become WFNY’s Sportsman of the Year. But, considering he is playing, quite possibly, the best football in this, his eighth season, he needs to stay in the conversation. Some day, the Browns will not have the best left tackle on the face of Earth. In the meantime, let us cherish my WFNY Sportsman of the Year, Joe Thomas.
4 Comments
Yes. Every time.
Bad timing… http://sports.yahoo.com/news/browns-thomas-accused-environmental-violations-163430158–nfl.html
Seems like a non-story. Especially when you read this quote: ”I know it sounds horrific when you see the list of violations,” he said, ”but in the end it’s just rabbit turds here.”
Well I guess if Joe says it’s just rabbit poop, then I am sure it is just rabbit poop.