Thuney is one of two Patriots offensive players, and the only rookie, to start all 18 games, winning the left guard job shortly after New England drafted him in the third round out of North Carolina State.
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Looking back on draft night, it’s apparent Joe was destined make it to the Super Bowl this year.
"His agent called and said Atlanta was going to trade up and take Joseph with the 84th pick," Mike said. "But he told Joseph his phone rang five times before he answered and that he needed to get out of the basement with friends and answer the phone quicker, so he came upstairs to watch the draft with us."
When the phone rang about 10 minutes later, Joe answered it right away and was surprised to hear a voice other than his agent’s on the other line.
“Lo and behold it was (New England head coach) Bill Belichick,” Mike recalled. “He said, ‘We’re taking you with 78th pick, and here’s Mr. Kraft (owner Robert Kraft). He wants to welcome you to the Patriots family.’ It was crazy.”
Thuney worked his way into the starting lineup at left guard during OTAs and has held the job ever since, playing 99.6 percent of the offensive snaps for the Patriots.
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It’s reminiscent of his career at Alter, which is when Mike said he first realized Joe could have a successful future in football.
“He’d always been a really good athlete and excelled in every sport he played, but when he made varsity as a sophomore at Alter and then was starting in the preseason games, that’s when I knew something was up,” Mike said.
And it wasn’t just any Alter team, it was the squad that would go on to win the first state championship in school history, a team that also featured another NFL third-round pick in linebacker Chris Borland.
“He’s out there with all of these bigger, older guys and it was like ‘oh my gosh,’” Mike said. “At the time he was maybe 6-2 and 190 pounds. He wasn’t huge, but he had the skills. I remember (assistant coach) Tim Edwards telling me Joseph’s feet were just really, really good.”
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Joe went on to help Alter win another state title in 2009 and later served as senior class president while drawing a lot of interest from Division I colleges. He picked North Carolina State over Ohio State when Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel waffled whether Joe had the size to play offensive line in the Big 10.
Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien told Joe he would be fixture on the line after redshirting as a freshman, and that he believe he would eventually play on Sundays. That was all Joe needed to hear to head to Raleigh, where he earned an accounting degree in three years, added an international affairs degree along with a minor in Spanish and played well enough to draw the interest of the premier franchise in the NFL.
After five years of driving to Raleigh, N.C., every weekend, where Beth was the president of the parents club, Mike and Beth have spent the last five months flying across the country to watch their son live out his dream.
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“It’s been a challenge all year because I’m still practicing full time as a family doctor for the Kettering Health Network,” Mike said. “But they’ve been really nice about not making any waves about that. We go out on Saturdays and come back on Monday mornings and get after it the next weekend.
“Thankfully Beth is really good with logistics and getting the plane tickets and having everything organized,” he added.
The Thuneys only missed two games – Dec. 4 against the Rams, which was four days after their oldest daughter, Monica, gave birth; and the Christmas eve game against the Jets, a 41-3 Patriots laugher.
Not only have they seen a lot of wins, they’ve seen Joe play well enough to earn a spot on the Pro Football Writers of America all-rookie team. In addition to his blocking, Joe has played an additional, unique role in helping the Patriots earn a share of the NFL lead for fewest turnovers with 11.
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Guards rarely get their hands on the football, but twice this year Joe has recovered teammates fumbles, and both of them extended drives that led to points.
The first game in Denver in Week 14 when he fell on a LaGarrette Blount fumble with the game tied 3-3. By maintaining possession, the Patriots went 46 yards in seven plays for a tiebreaking touchdown on the way to a 16-3 victory.
Then in the 34-16 victory against Houston in the divisional round of the playoffs, Thuney recovered a Dion Lewis fumble on third down. That enabled kicker Stephen Gostowski to come in and boot a 43-yard field goal to put the game out of reach with 6:47 to go.
After watching Joe play games in three of the four time zones this season, there was no way Mike and Beth were going to miss the Super Bowl.
“Joseph was able to get us eight seats together, so we’re going to have a small but proud contingency there cheering him on and cheering for the Patriots,” Mike said. “It’ll be fun. This whole year has been fun. It’s been remarkable. We can’t hardly believe it.”
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