Joe Thuney’s snap streak draws respect, admiration from fellow offensive linemen

FOXBOROUGH — The question for Shaq Mason is a simple one: What would it take to get left guard Joe Thuney to come out of a game?


“I remember last year … when we got called out of a game when we were up big,” the right guard told BostonSportsJournal.com with a smile when asked about Thuney. “We got called out of a game, and he (was) pissed when he had to come out.

“Nothing can get him out of a game.”

“Maybe nothing,” said left tackle Trent Brown when asked the same question. “I haven’t seen anything yet.”

Mason -- Thuney's best friend on the team -- and Brown aren’t engaging in hyperbole. Thuney enters Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Jets having played every offensive snap of every game this season — 1,051 in all. He’s the only guy on either side of the ball who has a 100 percent play-time rate to this point in the season.

Across the NFL, the guy Tom Brady affectionately calls "Looney Tunes" is one of 32 offensive linemen to have played every snap of the first 15 games. Only six other offensive linemen have played more offensive snaps that Thuney this season, but when you add in Thuney’s special teams' snaps, he’s third on the list of offensive linemen with 1,127. (For comparison's sake, Baltimore center Matt Skura leads all offensive linemen in only OL snaps this year with 1,112.)

In all, Thuney’s streak goes back to last year’s Dec. 11 loss to the Dolphins. Since then, he has played 1,548 consecutive snaps, including the postseason. If he can go wire-to-wire in the regular season finale against the Jets, he’d be the first Patriots’ player to play every possible snap in the regular season since Tom Brady and Ryan Wendell did it in 2013.

This isn’t a one-off thing: Thuney was second to Mason in terms of play-time percentage in 2017 (99.74 percent to 99.56 percent), while Thuney and center David Andrews were tied for the top spot on offense in 2016 at 99.64 percent.

And all while doing his job at a high level. Here's the Pro Football Focus ratings for the New England offensive line from 2017:



And 2018:

In the past, Bill Belichick has said durability can be just as important as ability, and that seems to be the case when it comes to Thuney.

“He’s one of our best players, one of our most consistent players,” Belichick said of Thuney, who was sidelined for a stretch this past spring in the wake of offseason foot surgery.

“I’d say it took him a little while to kind of get back to football levels of conditioning, strength, technique and so forth – there’s a lot of technique at the position he plays, and every position, but certainly that one,” he added. “(But) I thought he’s played very consistently all year, as he has the last couple of years. So, yeah, he’s been a really solid guy for us.”

Honestly, Thuney really doesn’t like talking much. He’s not cold or standoffish — he’s just not all that interested in drawing attention to himself. So as a result, you have to go to his teammates. And they are more than happy to share their thoughts regarding the former third-round pick out of N.C. State who has to be dragged out of games.

For Brown — who had a similar nine-game streak to start the year with the Patriots — Thuney’s ability to consistently answer the bell goes beyond football.

“It’s just as a man — not even as an offensive lineman, but a man,” Brown told BSJ when asked what impresses him the most about Thuney’s streak. “This is your job. The guys to the left and right depend on you. Your team depends on you. You’re out there for a reason. You just want to be out there to give yourself the best chance to grow and progress and give the team the best chance to win. And Joe does that.”