ESPN - Defenses will need new manual to stop Fins - AFC East Great article which gives some history into the Wildcat formation and what we can expect going forward with it. I happen to agree that it will be less successful going forward.
It's like the backup quarterback coming in. There's no film and preparation for him so the possibility of success increases. Now if they mixed this in with some other gadget plays/formations then we'd be talking.
Really good read. Thanks. I don't know if it would work every week. It was used by the '47 Steelers as the article says and they won 2/3rds of their games. It has proved to be successful according to that statistic but that was six decades ago. I expect us to lineup Ginn (as Gish said) and others, possibly Bess, in the single-wing formation and use it sporadically as I don't see it working on a weekly-basis.
Unless your backup QB happens to Ray Lucas (collective gasp), John Beck (collective gasp) or Cleo Lemon The success rate has a lot do with the talent on the field... NFL teams will be ready for these formations, the question is do we have the talent and the ability to execute even when the opponent knows this is coming, and have prepared for it?
Did anybody else notice this: "Tailback Johnny Clement led the 8-4 Steelers to the playoffs with 1,004 passing yards and 670 rushing yards." That's a lot of passing yards for a running back.... at 20 yards a pass, you'd have to run the passing variety of the play 50 times in 12 games. Good grief.
But the quarterback doesn't get the ball in that formation. Clement was their main passer. And if your main passer gets 1000 yards in 12 games, you're obviously not throwing it much. Here's a link to their stats that year. 1947 Steelers They passed 209 times, or about 17 times a game. They ran 496 times, or 44 times a game. They completed 41% of their passes, which seems to have been normal for those days.
