Audi Forum » SEATTLE (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs will be without starting

cornerback Kendall Fuller and starting safety Ron Parker for Sunday night’s game against Seattle.Fuller was listed as questionable with a thumb injury Nazair Jones Color Rush Jersey , while Parker’s absence was a surprise after not being listed on any injury reports during the week. The Chiefs were also without a pair of starters on the offensive side with wide receiver Sammy Watkins (foot) having already been ruled out and running back Spencer Ware missing his second straight game with shoulder and hamstring injuries. Ware had been listed as doubtful.Seattle was without starting safety Tedric Thompson (chest) and starting right tackle Germain Ifedi (groin). But the Seahawks have both guard D.J. Fluker (hamstring) and safety Bradley McDougald (knee) active after both players did not participate in practice all week. The Seahawks also played without rookie running back Rashaad Penny for the second straight week because of a knee injury. In the wake of Super Bowl LIII there has been no shortage of praise thrown at the New England Patriots and their offensive line coach, Dante Scarnecchia, for both the job the offensive line did in protecting Tom Brady and the diversity of the team’s rushing attack in the Super Bowl. However, the success of the Patriots in these two areas is not random, and stems from a word that is talked about quite a bit regarding offensive lines: Continuity. Fans are likely tired of hearing this word over and over from pundits, coaches and other observers 12th Fan Color Rush Jersey , but large parts of the Patriots success over the past two decades can be traced back to this concept. Here is the type of run game diversity that New England is able to runas a result of their continuity, and as a result of not having to teach new guys new concepts season after season.Specifically, the Patriots successfully manage the offensive line by maintaining continuity over the years by limiting the number of rookies starting in any given season. To that point, here is the number of games rookie offensive linemen for the Pats have started since the spring of 1999 when Pete Carroll moved Dante Scarnecchia from special teams coach to offensive line coach for the team. Games started by rookie offensive linemen for the New England Patriots since 1999SeasonGames Started by RookieSeasonGames Started by Rookie What immediately jumps out from that table are two seasons - 2005 and 2015 - as they are obviously far above the norm for the number of games rookie linemen started for the team. It’s no coincidence that 2015 is the season for in which the Pats fell to the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game in which Brady took four sacks and 17 hits. That was the game that led the Patriots to decide not to renew Dave DeGuglielmo’s contract as offensive line coach, and to bring Scarnecchia back from his two year retirement. However, that 2015 season laid the foundation for the Patriots line for the foreseeable future. Those 30 games started by rookies came from: Guard Shaq Mason Tyler Lockett Color Rush Jersey , 10 startsCenter David Andrews, 11 startsGuard Tre’ Jackson, 9 startsNow, Jackson saw his career derailed by a knee injury, and missing the 2016 season on PUP and being out of football in 2017 and 2018, he’s still trying to make things work in the Alliance of American Football. He just turned 26 Frank Clark Color Rush Jersey , which makes him five months younger than George Fant, so he still may have a future in the NFL if his knee heals, however, his story is a different tangent that is not the focus of this piece. The focus of this piece is the simple fact that since the 2015 took their lumps by starting three rookie offensive linemen two of those linemen have continued to develop into high caliber players. Specifically, since that season Mason and Andrews have combined to start 91 of 96 possible games for New England, and neither of them is anywhere near old. Mason will turn 26 just days before the 2019 season and Andrews will turn 27 just prior to the start of training camp. That’s forty percent of the offensive line about which the Patriots don’t have to worry Dion Jordan Color Rush Jersey , and then there’s Joe Thuney. Thuney has played basically every single snap possible during his three years in New England since being drafted in the third round of the 2016 draft, and it would be quite a shock if Bill Belichick doesn’t sign Thuney to an extension sometime over the next year. That would lock up the core of the Patriots line for the foreseeable future, as Andrews is under contract through 2020 and Mason is signed through 2023. In short, the Patriots have established a young core for the offensive line to provide holes for the run game and protect Tom Brady, and a huge piece of the establishment of that foundation was the fact that the team bit the bullet and used three rookie starters in 2015. Perhaps they should send a Super Bowl ring to Dave DeGuglielmo for helping establish that young core.