Cameron Fleming Missing From Practice; Does Ryan Wendell Start?

The Patriots have had two players miss practice this whole week, both with finger injuries: safety and stud special teamer Nate Ebner and offensive lineman Cameron Fleming.

Rookie Fleming is coming off the first start of his NFL career. Although he was a college tackle, the Patriots were forced to play him at right guard for all but three plays against the Chiefs.

In those three plays, though, the Patriots put interior lineman Ryan Wendell on the field. The drive resulted in a pick-six and a benching of Tom Brady. When Brady sat, so did the offensive line captain Dan Connolly, pushing Wendell over to left guard when Fleming returned.

If Fleming is unable to play on Sunday Night against the Bengals, and missing an entire week of practice does not bode well for him being active, then it seems as if Wendell is the favorite to take on a starting role in his place.

This would give the Patriots a starting line of left tackle Nate Solder, left guard Connolly, center Bryan Stork, right guard Wendell, and right tackle Sebastian Vollmer. This, of course, is our recommended offensive line to fix the offense. The other options are reinstated recently benched right guard Jordan Devey, or Josh Kline, who has been a healthy scratch for most of the season.