Joe Thomas Quotes

First thing, and it's really one of my favorite things, is the protection part. Who everybody is blocking and where the pressure is coming from. Because if we can't get the ball off, it doesn't matter what you're doing out here.

It doesn't make much sense to blitz a guy that gets rid of the ball in less than 1.5 seconds.

You can't put a running back in there and have him not know who to pick up. You can't get your quarterback hit.

I think anytime you can take as much off the quarterback as possible, that only helps them out in the long run.

If you watch most quarterbacks in the league, if you take more than two hitches, there's a good chance you'll be sacked. By recognizing things, it allows you to get to your fourth or fifth read on your second hitch and get the ball out of your hand.

The quarterback is the most vulnerable one on the field. He's in an awkward position a lot of times when he throws the ball. So he does have to be protected. You lose a quarterback, you're in trouble. I don't know if they can make it too safe. I think health becomes an issue.

I know how important it is to have your quarterback standing upright. Matter of fact, I know how important it is not to allow someone hit on him period because I want him to think that this pocket is completely safe, no one is going to get to me and I got all the time in the world to make whatever decisions I need to make.

The quarterback gets plenty of protection in the pocket, and he picks up protection out of the pocket; he's got protection down the field on his slides.

I'm a great pass catcher. I'm excellent in pass protection, which is the most important thing. You can't play, you can't get on the field if you don't protect that franchise quarterback.

A defensive coordinator is always going to try to throw you something different and get you out of your element, and I have to do better with the pass protection.

I'm just going out there and doing my job, so whatever it is - if it's a hard slide protection, if it's a double team, or even a triple team or a chip - whatever it is, I'm just finding ways to win, so that's about it.

Even though you wouldn't want to line a D-lineman and running back up across from each other to block, when you get help initially from the guard, and then the defensive tackle gets picked up by the running back, it's not as bad as a lot of people would think versus if you're just putting that matchup on paper.

Any time you get a new running back, whether it's a rookie or hasn't played a lot, that's the first thing you test, is their pass protection. That's big.

To survive in the NFC West, we have to win in the trenches.

That's the key to defending any quarterback: to make them throw before they want to throw.

There is a strike zone in the pocket that's very clear. Can't hit QBs low, can't hit them high.

It's hard to throw the football when you have some instability at quarterback or if you don't have the weapons around you.

I've noticed that right tackles have gotten better in pass pro throughout my career.

Brent Celek is a heck of a blocker, James Casey is a heck of a blocker.

As a running back, it takes five offensive linemen, a tight end, a fullback and possibly two wide receivers, in order to make my job successful.

As an offensive lineman, having spatial awareness is key: understanding where the quarterback is going to be and understanding what the defensive end might do depending on the play we're running.

I haven't seen a new football play since I was in high school. You have just so many holes in a line and you have eleven men playing, and there's only so many ways you can go through those holes, and those ways have been used for forty, fifty years.

I don't know that the referee can be watching holding on the offensive line and get back to the quarterback. I think watching the quarterback is a full-time job.

The name of the game is 'kill the quarterback.' Every football team tries to knock the guy out of the game that's handling the ball.

The simplest way to win in the National Football League is to knock out the starting quarterback. You know, throughout the years, history has proven if your number one quarterback goes down, your chances for success become very limited.