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Joe Thomas says Josh McCown helps take pressure off him to lead

Left tackle and quarterback forming veteran duo

There’s a feeling of ease and reassurance this year from Joe Thomas, and he hasn’t felt this way in a long time.

It has to do with quarterback Josh McCown.

For the first time since 2010, the Cleveland Browns are entering the season with a quarterback who has at least five NFL seasons under his belt.

“I feel like it takes a little pressure off me,” Thomas said Tuesday on Cleveland Browns Daily.

Cleveland’s Pro Bowl left tackle, no doubt, remains a vocal authoritarian in the locker room. But it’s the consistent presence of McCown in practice that’s been a breath of fresh air in Thomas’ eyes. The 13-year veteran knows where to throw the ball every time. He’ll call out a teammate for not hustling. He has firm command of the play calls in the huddle. McCown outwardly believes in himself and the direction of the Browns offense.

“He’s a guy that’s been around a long time,” Thomas said. “So, he obviously understands what it takes to be a winner in the NFL. When you have a guy like that at the quarterback position – it’s just the No. 1 position where you need that leadership and command of the huddle.”

That peacefulness only increases when Thomas turns to his right on the practice field.

Second-year left guard Joel Bitonio is being named to breakout player lists having quickly become a concrete pillar on Cleveland’s offensive line. Bitonio was ranked as the fifth-best guard in the league by Pro Football Focus and NFL prognosticators only envision the 23-year-old’s prowess escalating.

“This year, it’s not even like he’s a second-year guy,” Thomas said. “That’s a blessing. To have a guy that’s in his second-year playing at a Pro Bowl-caliber level … you don’t have to baby him, you don’t have to tell him what to do on every play. It makes my job much easier.”

Alex Mack is back. John Greco and Mitchell Schwartz return. First-round pick Cameron Erving is in the picture, even filling in at left tackle during Tuesday’s OTA while Thomas rested. Right tackle Michael Bowie is “big, strong and physical,” Thomas said.

Thomas speaks openly about how the Browns know their strength on offense lies on the offensive line. After all, how many teams have three Pro Bowl type players on the line? Coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer want to win football games controlling both lines of scrimmages. And they’re well on their way, Thomas said.

“It’s probably going to be one of the better offensive lines in the NFL,” Thomas said. “I think the sky really is the limit for the group that we have.

“If we are able to put the pieces together, coach Pettine definitely has a vision for what he wants this team to be, and we’re going to be darn good.”

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Sounds good coming from Big Joe, I mean he hasn't been he most vocal during his Hall of Fame career, but he has been moreso these past 2 years, I truly believe JT sees winning football coming sooner than later with Pettine and company ... JMHO

"McCown is a big step down from Good Hoyer... not so much when compared with Bad Hoyer, perhaps even better."

I think good McCown is as good as good Hoyer and bad McCown is as bad as bad Hoyer. Question is what percentage of each do you get. Last season in TB was almost all bad McCown. The year before in Chicago was almost all goo McCown.

How much good McCown will we get this year?

Kevin Jones... Man I don't understand how he got this job.

Fluffy Fluff Fluff.......LOL!.......

How come your purple looks more purple than my purple?

because yours is blue and his is purple?

If Bowie can relegate Schwartz to a backup role, and Erving develop as expected, then our Oline should be in very, very good shape...

clevesteve: You liked Matias, OG, as did I, but where would he have fit on this roster?

I think it's hard to have too many good OL. I also am not putting a whole lot of stock into Bowie, who hasn't played since he was injured.

One nice thing about Matias is that he goes something like 6'5", #320 which is big enough to play tackle if need be, but we've already got several guys out at tackle.

LT Thomas
LG Bitonio
C Mack
RG Greco
RT Erving (also backup center)

OT Schwartz (starting quality talent)
OT Bowie (has started in the past... injury?)
OG Matias (starting quality talent)
Whoever makes it among OT Miller, OT Loos, OL McDonald, C Olsen, OL Painter, C Seymour

Personally I think Matias would be good enough to push Greco for the starting role and certainly would be a terrific backup for either guard spot.

I think any attempt at using Erving outside is just a waste. I dont see NFL tackle in his future at all. I believe he is a future probowl interior linemen but a backup journeyman type if he is used outside. Schwartz is average and it may take Erving 3 or 4 years to become average at tackle. Inside, I think he can be really good early on and probably pushes Grecco into a backup role.

It is certainly possible that it plays out that way. The guys on Cleveland Browns Daily expect Erving to start at RG. I disagree that he can't play tackle, but I guess we'll see one way or the other. I was just putting the best 5 guys out there.

Yep.

People worry about Gordon, but 2014 Gordon was actually a roadblock on offense, not an advantage. We essentially lost Miles Austin from last year's crew, and added Bowe and Hartline. (along with Mayle, who I think has a chance to make a big impact as he learns the game)

Cameron is a weapon, but how much of a weapon was he last year? He caught 24 passes last year. Does his loss really hurt this team, if compared to last year? I don't think so. Plus, I have to admit that I really like Housler. (and wanted us to sign him as soon as we were at all linked to him)

Further, we are going to use the RB position far more in the passing game than we did last year.

I find it hard to determine if one QB is going to be better than another when they played in completely different circumstances. I admit that I was not crazy (to be nice) about signing McCown. However, Pettine has been right about enough things for me to give him the benefit of the doubt. Further, McCown and Hoyer did not play on the same teams last year. Some have written about how a certain rookie QB in Minnesota had some issues because of the OL he played behind last year. McCown probably played behind the worst OL in the NFL last year. Anytime I saw a Buc's game, the QBs appeared to be under constant siege. Now, McCown had a better big play weapons in Tampa Bay than he will have here, at least at the top of the WR roster. However, we may have better depth than he had in Tampa last year. The Browns ran the ball a lot better than the Bucs did last year, and that should help a guy like McCown. McCown, like Hoyer, is not a guy you want to build your offense on, but rather you want to build an offense that he can run, but not one that he has to be the foundation of. I think that was the idea last year, but our inability to adjust to the loss of Mack to injury really screwed the pooch there. I think that we will run a lot of play involving the RB position .... runs, screens, play action, short passes, and so on. While we will still be a power run team, I think that we will add in a lot more of the WCO mandate of throwing to the RB position a lot more often. Further, the reports from the OTAs say that Housler is being used down the seam a lot .... which is good news.

Now none of us know how any of the "4" QBs we have discussed will do. How will 2015 McCown do compared to 2014 Hoyer? How will 2015 Hoyer do compared to 2015 McCown? How will 2015 McCown do compared to 2014 McCown?

One other thing to remember. The Bucs lost their OC, Jeff Tedford, to a heart problem, without him ever coaching a single regular season game. The Bucs started in one direction, and then floundered because they never had anyone who could assume the OC duties. Their QB coach was a guy who had, as far as I can see, never coached in the NFL. I suspect that also had an impact on the entire offense, as the structure of the offense never got set. Arroyo, their QB coach, never had a chance to acclimate to the NFL game. Imagine if we somehow lost Flip before the season, and decided to go with Kevin O'Connell as our OC for the year. I don't know about anyone else, but that idea would scare the heck out of me. Lovie Smith has always been a defensive coach.

So they lost their OC, had a very raw QB coach, and a defensive Head Coach. To me, that seems like a recipe for disaster ..... and disaster it was.

Now I don't know how McCown will play this year. I admit to being concerned about the position. However, Pettine has earned some degree of trust from me, and so I will trust him in this regard. We'll see. He almost cannot be worse than what we saw in the final half or so of last season.