Joe Thomas

If he lasts just four plays in Sunday's game against the Baltimore Ravens (note: jinxes begone), he'll hit a consecutive snaps milestone that the Cleveland Browns say is unprecedented.

Thomas' fourth snap will be his 10,000th straight play on offense. The standout Browns left tackle has not missed a play since he was the third overall pick in the 2007 draft. Through losing and quarterback changes and more losing and more quarterback changes, Thomas has been the Browns' Gibraltar -- immense, solid and always there.

"I will now hold my breath 10,000 times," his wife, Annie, said this week.

In its essence, what Thomas has done is show up every day for work. Through sore throats, bad days, bad knees, headaches, not feeling well or not feeling into it, Thomas has come to work and done his job and done it well. He is recognized and respected, as Cal Ripken Jr. was when he set baseball's consecutive-games streak: Thomas works every day, and he works at a high level. As he said Thursday: "I guess I'm just a guy that tries to show up and do his job every day."

"It's still insane to me that after all of these years he's never missed a snap," Annie Thomas said. "It's just a testament to the man he is: reliable, dedicated, and mentally and physically tough."

She puts it as well as anyone, probably because she knows him as well as anyone. But this week a variety of other people who know Thomas spoke about his career, which has seen him go to the Pro Bowl in each of his first 10 seasons while playing for a team that has had one winning season and gone 48-113 since he was drafted. Teammates, former teammates, coaches, former coaches … all used the same superlatives. But when some of the greats of the game heard of the upcoming 10,000th snap, they were stopped cold.