We've all heard about Adrian Peterson. Dwayne Bowe and Patrick Willis have been shown some love by the press. But not once have I heard Joe Thomas' name mentioned the entire season. I think this guy is hands-down the Rookie of the Year, even if Peterson hadn't been hurt. The Browns (the frickin' Browns?!) have one of the nastiest pass offenses in the NFL this year. We could talk about Derek Anderson as the Second Coming all day, but I don't buy it. The guy couldn't win a starting job before the season began. If you buy into Bill Walsh's philosophy at all, you know that Left Tackle is the most crucial position on the football field, especially in the passing game. He protects the quarterback's blind side. Look at all the successful quarterback's around the league and throughout history and I gaurantee you'll notice a correlation between QB success and LT dominance. (The Great Peyton Manning had a back-up LT playing against the Chargers on Sunday- how'd he do in that game?) I say the sole reason the Browns have shed their mantle as perennial cellar-dwellers is 'cause of this kid. (All due respect to DA, Braylon, Kellen and Co., but they were all there last year, sputtering.) No rookie in the NFL has made a more immediate impact on his team than Thomas. Does anybody know if an offensive lineman has been named ROY ever? I think this should be the year.
Peterson is ROY..accept it (even if he doesn't play another down all year) and you should be talking about Anderson as Joe Thomas was playing in week one when Charlie Frye started out 4-10 with a pick before Anderson replaced him. Neither Pace or Boselli made ROY so I doubt anybody did.
Thomas' first game as a rookie, Don. Frye, a clear third stringer, got sacked 5 times. Derek Anderson has been sacked 8 times the entire season! That kind of QB protection is priceless.
Here's the list. All RBs, WRs and QBs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NFL_Defensive_Rookie_of_the_Year_Award
Sacks are such a chicken-and-the-egg stat. It's not something that has been accurately quantified... did the sack happen because the O-Line failed the QB? or did the sack happen because the QB hadn't the pocket awareness an/or ability to buy time for himself to make a play? Until they start logging sacks and tagging 'blame' to them.... it will be forever fruitless to argue them. I have to agree though, that he (Joe Thomas) should at least be in the conversation for RoY.... even if he has no chance to win it , 'cause nothing short of premature death will keep that award away from A.P..
