Bruce Armstrong arrived as a first-round pick out of Louisville in 1987 and immediately stepped into the starting lineup at right tackle. The Patriots did not ease him in. He started every game he played as a rookie, earned All-Rookie recognition, and never left the lineup again. By 1990, he had moved to left tackle, where he stayed for the rest of his career.

The best years arrived in the mid-1990s. Armstrong earned Pro Bowl selections in 1990 and 1991, then returned after a severe knee injury in 1992 that cost him the second half of that season. He returned and strung together six more consecutive Pro Bowl nods from 1994 through 1997, earning second-team All-Pro recognition in multiple seasons. At 6-foot-4 and 295 pounds, he wasn’t the largest tackle in the league, yet he consistently handled elite pass rushers one-on-one and kept the pocket intact for Drew Bledsoe. The durability showed up in the streak: once he returned from the 1992 injury, he started the next 128 consecutive games.

Armstrong stayed effective through the late 1990s even as the supporting cast around him shifted. He played through another knee issue in 1999 and still finished the season as a starter. After the 2000 campaign, he retired. His fourteen seasons in New England ended there. With New England, he appeared in 212 games and started all 212, a franchise record that stood until Tom Brady later surpassed it. Those numbers arrived while he earned six Pro Bowl selections and multiple second-team All-Pro nods.

Armstrong entered the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2001, the same year the team retired his number 78. The left tackle, a first-rounder who never left the lineup, finished as one of the most durable and reliable offensive linemen the franchise has ever had.