The Fleming Effect

mayoclinic · Nov 18, 2014

Nice read by Kevin Duffy on Cam Fleming's impact on the running game against the Colts (with some nice gifs):

* Fleming was used as an extra lineman on 36 snaps (not including any that were nullified by penalty). The Patriots ran the ball on 30 of those plays, and every last one was to Fleming’s side.

The breakdown of the Patriots’ ground game with Fleming:

- Off left tackle: 10 carries, 50 yards, 1 TD (5.0 yards per carry)
- Off right tackle: 7 carries, 61 yards (8.7 yards per carry)
- Up middle left: 1 carry, 4 yards
- Up middle right: 12 carries, 48 yards, 3 TD (4 yards per carry)

Overall, that’s 163 of Jonas’ Gray’s 201 yards at a robust 5.4 yards per attempt.

* There was little deception with Fleming in the game, although the Patriots did try a few passes to mix it up. Tom Brady was 3-for-6 for 50 yards and an interception (that poor throw at the end of the first half) in the Fleming formation. The Patriots ran playaction—again, to Fleming’s side—on four of those throws.

http://blog.masslive.com/patriots/2014/11/the_fleming_formation_new_engl.html

shmessy · Nov 18, 2014

I sure hope he's not badly hurt. Did not look good doubling over in the 4th qtr after getting his leg rolled up on. He's a mountain of a man.

n6249c · Nov 19, 2014

Pats worked out OT Derek Sherrod today according to Reiss. Sherrod was a late first round pick in 2011, missed much time due to injury (broken tibia), cut a few weeks ago by the Packers. It's late enough in the season that if Fleming is going to miss much time it might be better to put him on the IR and sign Sherrod, if he's healthy and hungry to play some football.

mayoclinic · Nov 19, 2014

More on Fleming's run blocking from Eric Frentz, with more GIFs:

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extra_points/2014/11/patriots_take_2.html

Hudson Pats Fan · Nov 19, 2014

shmessy said:
I sure hope he's not badly hurt. Did not look good doubling over in the 4th qtr after getting his leg rolled up on. He's a mountain of a man.

Same here. At the end of the game when NBC was doing the obligatory shots of Belichick walking off the field I thought that I saw Cam walking off the field right behind him so maybe it's not too bad (couldn't see if he was limping or not).

mayoclinic · Nov 19, 2014

Walpole Pats Fan said:
Same here. At the end of the game when NBC was doing the obligatory shots of Belichick walking off the field I thought that I saw Cam walking off the field right behind him so maybe it's not too bad (couldn't see if he was limping or not).

He was definitely walking at the end of the game and didn't look to be in any distress. But you can never tell. I thought we dodged any major injuries in the Jets game.

shmessy · Nov 19, 2014

Walpole Pats Fan said:
Same here. At the end of the game when NBC was doing the obligatory shots of Belichick walking off the field I thought that I saw Cam walking off the field right behind him so maybe it's not too bad (couldn't see if he was limping or not).

I also saw him having a friendly chat with Luck after the game (they were teammates at Stanford). He looked relaxed and happy so there's that to pin hopes on.

Oswlek · Nov 19, 2014

shmessy said:
I also saw him having a friendly chat with Luck after the game (they were teammates at Stanford). He looked relaxed and happy so there's that to pin hopes on.

I saw the same thing.

BelichickFan · Nov 19, 2014

Walpole Pats Fan said:
Same here. At the end of the game when NBC was doing the obligatory shots of Belichick walking off the field I thought that I saw Cam walking off the field right behind him so maybe it's not too bad (couldn't see if he was limping or not).

Rich Hill ‏@PP_Rich_Hill 2h2 hours ago
OT Cameron Fleming was definitely on the field for post-game, but he was also limping a lot. Guessing it's a short injury.

Sounds like it's definitely not a long term thing but very possibly a short term outage, maybe missing a game or two. I would guess GB would be the target as they're easier to run on so that will probably be a bigger part of the gameplan than this week.

JMC00 · Nov 19, 2014

David Shaw told one of the beat writers, I think it was Howe, that when the needed yards they ran behind Fleming.

mayoclinic · Nov 19, 2014

JMC00 said:
David Shaw told one of the beat writers, I think it was Howe, that when the needed yards they ran behind Fleming.

They ran to Fleming's side on every single rush when he was in the lineup, and they gained almost 2/3 of their rushing yards on those plays.

Stork and Fleming are looking like a very solid pair of OL additions, especially for a couple of 4th round picks.

PatsFan2 · Nov 19, 2014

I personally don't think Sea-Bass Vollmer is as good as he was before his injury last year. He has given up alot of pressures thank goodness Brady can move around some. Cameron Fleming is a mountain of a man the kind of RT that can wear down opposing defenders. I really think he on the heels of Vollmer for playing time...I think he would be an excellent Starter, CamFleming does alot of things well.

patchick · Nov 19, 2014

mayoclinic said:
Stork and Fleming are looking like a very solid pair of OL additions, especially for a couple of 4th round picks.

Yep, they spent just 2 4ths and a 6th on the OL and seem to have come away with an immediate quality starter at center and a promising RT. This hasn't been a flashy draft class so far, with Easley working his way back to form and Garoppolo obviously stuck behind a clipboard, but the overall value reaped seems solid.

Dragda · Nov 19, 2014

Walpole Pats Fan said:
Same here. At the end of the game when NBC was doing the obligatory shots of Belichick walking off the field I thought that I saw Cam walking off the field right behind him so maybe it's not too bad (couldn't see if he was limping or not).

They showed him talking and smiling with Andrew Luck. While this doesn't tell much, it seems a positive indication of things.

Patriot Missile · Nov 19, 2014

This team is so hard to predict. It's like they pick and choose what they want to do to the other team. One week they are running a spread. The next they are killing it with Gronk and Wright with a 2 TE set. This is the 2nd week that they just crushed the other team with the run. Like the 2 TE set it was so effective that you would figure this is how they are going to do it the rest of the season. For all we know Gray is going to get 5-10 carries next week and I doubt Detroit knows as well. I'm predicting a lot of Gronk and Wright but we will see.

Ivan · Nov 19, 2014

mayoclinic said:
They ran to Fleming's side on every single rush when he was in the lineup, and they gained almost 2/3 of their rushing yards on those plays.

Stork and Fleming are looking like a very solid pair of OL additions, especially for a couple of 4th round picks.

Yep, this goes back to the Jumbo packages you were talking about early in the season, and while they may have been a product of necessity at that point they are now a tool in the package, and one teams like the Colts want absolutely nothing to do with because they have no answer for them. it will be interesting to see if they employ it this week, my belief is that this is more a week for making the Lions DL cover laterally by throwing to Develin and Vereen in the flats, and running outside but it would be interesting to see if they decide to go big and try to match them physically.

mgteich · Nov 19, 2014

PatsFan2 said:
I personally don't think Sea-Bass Vollmer is as good as he was before his injury last year. He has given up alot of pressures thank goodness Brady can move around some. Cameron Fleming is a mountain of a man the kind of RT that can wear down opposing defenders. I really think he on the heels of Vollmer for playing time...I think he would be an excellent Starter, CamFleming does alot of things well.

Of course, it is Cannon, NOT Fleming who is the backup at RT.

mayoclinic · Nov 19, 2014

Ivan said:
Yep, this goes back to the Jumbo packages you were talking about early in the season, and while they may have been a product of necessity at that point they are now a tool in the package, and one teams like the Colts want absolutely nothing to do with because they have no answer for them.

From the Duffy article mentioned in the OP:

There was little deception with Fleming in the game, although the Patriots did try a few passes to mix it up.

"There was little deception" because "they had no answer". The Pats just shoved it down their throat - kind of like the 2012 Miami game when the Pats just ran the ball at will in the 4th quarter. When you can overpower the other team, you don't have to make it complicated.

Ivan said:
It will be interesting to see if they employ it this week, my belief is that this is more a week for making the Lions DL cover laterally by throwing to Develin and Vereen in the flats, and running outside but it would be interesting to see if they decide to go big and try to match them physically.

Lots of options, but the run-heavy one doesn't seem like the most likely on this week.

BobDigital · Nov 19, 2014

Glad to see Fleming contribute this way. Don't want to hype it too much though but still positive.

Right now I see 7 OL worth keeping next year. Solder/Connolly/Stork/Wendell/Vollmer should all be signed.

Cannon has less positional flexibility than we hoped but is still a top tier back up at both OT spots so worth keeping. Fleming showing ability to play blocking TE adds to his value but I am not sure of his long term viability as a OG at this point. Will just have to wait and see but worth keeping for now.

I think Devey is gone and Kline though a decent backup to G is not so good he is not someone you don't look to potentially upgrade next year.

Patriot Missile · Nov 19, 2014

mayoclinic said:
From the Duffy article mentioned in the OP:

"There was little deception" because "they had no answer". The Pats just shoved it down their throat - kind of like the 2012 Miami game when the Pats just ran the ball at will in the 4th quarter. When you can overpower the other team, you don't have to make it complicated.

Lots of options, but the run-heavy one doesn't seem like the most likely on this week.

If Jonas Gray runs all over Detroit I'd be so shocked I'd probably go out and buy his jersey.

Is it just me or did Jonas Gray have the perfect hip shift sidestepping tackles? Were the Colts that bad or did something just click about the way Gray was running? I just never noticed the shift of the hips and hop step until Sunday. It was very Jamaal Charles like. (Without the elite take it to the house acceleration) big props to the oline and te's who contributed and to the FB and Gray himself.

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