1. This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Learn More.

I think the Wildcat is the wrost thing we have done.

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by Dorfdad, Sep 28, 2009.

  1. Dorfdad

    Dorfdad Well-Known Member

    4,052
    2,347
    113
    Dec 9, 2007
    I'm done *****ing, being angry and fighting with my brothers and sisters here on the forums. I think We all wan't the same thing success.

    I think some of you have a more advanced or inside view of the team than alot of us who just love the game and base things on how we see the games unfold do or care to honestly. However when it's all said and done were on the same team.

    So with that I'm not going to BASH anyone, but state what I feel honestly is the biggest hurdle this team will have to face, and that's the wildcat formation.

    Last year we brought this out and used to to cover our ineffective offense. In other words to try and get some plays for an offense that wasn't going to score much.

    I think our success is our failure. What I mean is that last year we surprised alot of people. It takes a few weeks for the defenses minds to come up with some kind of solution to the plays we presented evidenced against good teams (ie Baltimore).

    So we went into the off season with the feeling that we could expand this wildcat offense, and we even went so far by drafting "specific" players to fit this offense. instead of using these picks to Build a Solid traditional team.

    So after 3 games where the wildcat has been serviceable I have to say Im against it going forward.

    The Wildcat has it uses, something to mix up the game and give us a first down when we need it, but I would like to see this team give up the wildcat and build a high caliber field stretching offense.

    With Pennington down, were now instantly jump back 2 years in time. We got a big question mark at QB, a rookie QB that I honestly think is way over matched in the NFL as the backup.

    With the exception of Bess, We don't have a wideout that is money, and without that we can't run the ball very well without the wildcat.

    I think we have set the team back and now were talking about rebuilding once again when we could be much further along in development using a base offense with skilled players.

    The season is over basically. Yes we might win a few game but were not going to sweep out and were not going to win the division.

    Our defense plain out stinks, and our Wideouts are horrible.

    Its impossible to fix it now, the defense needs to be changed. We need to do something to help this team. Maybe we need to BUY a few players. I know it's against this Front Offices Method of Operation.

    I think we need to stop right now and trade, pickup some real talent and get henne or White all the plays we can to build the team the right way.

    Im sure alot of you will disagree, and this were talented but something happened between last year and this year and somethings not right.

    We are way to conservative near the goal line, Lets hope Henne is allowed to air it out..
     
    Hexonx likes this.
  2. Hexonx

    Hexonx Active Member

    202
    71
    28
    Sep 24, 2009
    Its like everything is broke on our team, coaching, players and front office.
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Season Ticket Holder Club Member

    13,969
    3,367
    113
    Jul 5, 2009
    So even though the WildCat is helping us out, you want to end it?
     
  4. mullingan

    mullingan New Grandbaby Pic!!!

    4,744
    733
    113
    Nov 27, 2007
    Gainesboro, TN
    I think the Wildcat is the one thing that has been consistently successfull this year, much more then our standard offense.
     
    dirtywhiteboy and jetssuck like this.
  5. shaunm000

    shaunm000 Well-Known Member

    747
    649
    93
    Nov 25, 2007
    Oviedo
    Did u watch the game yesterday? When we actually ran the ball, even in the wildcat, we were very effective.
     
  6. mbmonk

    mbmonk I have no clue

    1,333
    457
    0
    Aug 4, 2008
    The schedule.

    You put this same team up against the cupcakes we had last year and we are 3-0. The better teams expose your weaknesses and make you pay for mistakes ( turn over, bad technique, play calling, etc.). We are finding that out the hard way.
     
    xer0 and Dorfdad like this.
  7. Alex44

    Alex44 Boshosaurus Rex

    20,810
    8,965
    0
    Jan 7, 2008
    Hollywood, Florida
    The problem is that we aren't using the wildcat to create any big plays in the passing game. In my opinion we should be throwing out of the formation between 2-4 times a game. It's really our only shot at connecting on a big play.
     
    Jt0323, Fin D, Dorfdad and 1 other person like this.
  8. Zod

    Zod Ruler of the Universe

    3,415
    1,557
    113
    Nov 25, 2007
    I think you are wrong. It is not the biggest hurdle.

    Yes, you can say that again.

    What defense? They simply played the unbalanced formation and got a hat on hat. How does that differ from any other football you have ever seen?

    That is pure speculation. Pat White was drafted as a quarterback. He was drafted in the round (2nd) that prognosticators said he would be drafted. He was drafted by a team that needs a quarterback. He is the Miami Dolphins 3rd quarterback.

    So you have speculated that through ONE DRAFT PICK we wasted our entire draft for a specific offense that has failed. Yet the offense has not failed. It has been the only bright spot in a putrid offense. And to further dispute your assertion upon that draft pick, the draft pick has been sparingly used in that offense.

    You would like to see us throw the ball to the other team more often?

    I get the feeling that you think this is little league football. You intimate that we lose practice time running this stuff. That is an entirely unacceptable commentary. The receivers practice "get offs". The receivers practice route running. The receivers practice catching the ball. The receivers practice stalk blocking.

    Wildcat takes very little practice time. It utilizes the same "power O" blocking you see from our I formation. We gain 3 yards aligning in an "I". We gain 8 yards aligning in Wildcat. It's the same play but you would rather see the 3 yards because it would make you feel better about what we are doing? I'm sorry but I do not agree.

    The problems you are seeing will be there no matter what formation we align. The quarterbacks practice throwing. The receivers practice receiving. We are not lined up at practice going 11 on 11 for four hours. To the contrary, 11 on 11 is a very small portion of practice. Here is the difference between gametime and 11 on 11. The receivers are not hit, the quarterback is not hit, and they know it......

    Heck, were we not there already? What's so special about Pennington's injury?

    More speculation..........

    Would it have been better to go into 2010 with him as the starter and having no clue as to whether he was overmatched? If after 3 losses it isn't clear to you that Chad Pennington would not be receiving a contract extension - I do not know what would make it clear. 2010 is coming. It just arrive 13 games earlier. How many more losses do you think Pennington had under center?

    I believe you need to correct this statement. We are running just fine out of wildcat. We can't run out of an "I" formation without the threat of the pass.

    Who said we were ahead? We took advantage of Tom Brady's injury and won the division. We did what the Jets could not do. We did it with the discipline and resolve that they did not possess. It was nothing more. You honestly did not think that this horrible team was turned around in one season did you?

    There you go again with base offense and skill players providing no evidence why. Just because it looks like the part, doesn't mean it fits the car.

    Why watch? Why post?

    Wait! I thought it was the wildcat. :pity:

    What in the world did the wildcat do to the defense other than keep them off the field?

    What in the world did the wildcat do other than prevent us from throwing to the horrible receivers?

    Which one are you: Dave Wannstedt or Rick Spielman?

    Wait! They suck. Why would you give them more players? It does count as a contract year you know.......

    Yes something happened. We are not playing the worst teams in the league with a heavy emphasis in AFC West and the AFC North. BTW did I mention that Tom Brady is not injured this year neither.

    So you would have us throw it to the crappy receivers some more?
     
  9. gunn34

    gunn34 I miss Don & Dan

    21,755
    3,475
    113
    Jan 5, 2008
    Oviedo FL
    I would only run the Wildcat. A no huddle wildcat. That would ensure we dominate the defenses. AND score TDs.
     
  10. Alex44

    Alex44 Boshosaurus Rex

    20,810
    8,965
    0
    Jan 7, 2008
    Hollywood, Florida
    That would actually be interesting. Not for a whole game, but for a few plays in a row to say "These are the plays we are running, let's go no huddle and run them right at the defense."
     
  11. DOLFANMIKE

    DOLFANMIKE FOOTBALL COACH 32 YEARS Luxury Box

    5,403
    4,485
    113
    Mar 22, 2008
    California
    Your point is a tough one to argue when our best yardage per play, biggest plays, and most consistent plays all came out of Wildcat last season. Even this year in it's limited usage it's been productive to some degree.
     
    dirtywhiteboy likes this.
  12. BuckeyeKing

    BuckeyeKing Wolves DYNASTY!!!!

    25,411
    5,743
    113
    Dec 6, 2007
    The Wildcat just became that much important now that CP is done for the season.
     
  13. muscle979

    muscle979 Season Ticket Holder

    15,863
    6,275
    113
    Dec 12, 2007
    Evans, GA
    I don't know in what world a formation that consistantly produces runs of five yards or more can be the worst thing you can do. Whether it caused the Pat White pick or not doesn't make it in and of itself a bad formation to run.
     
    dirtywhiteboy likes this.
  14. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

    72,252
    43,684
    113
    Nov 27, 2007
    Blaming our woes on the wildcat is like blaming chicken soup for a cold.

    In fact, any blaming of our woes on anything other than our defense, is beyond me.
     
    DOLPHAN1 likes this.
  15. jetssuck

    jetssuck I hear Mandich's voice...

    16,657
    5,163
    0
    Aug 4, 2009
    Perfectville
    Actually, I think with his lack of big play ability, Penny is the one who needed it the most.

    It's been highly productive this year, in fact no one yet has been able to stop it. We stopped it ourselves by abandoning it and having Penny come back out to try and drive for a FG.
     
    dirtywhiteboy likes this.
  16. muscle979

    muscle979 Season Ticket Holder

    15,863
    6,275
    113
    Dec 12, 2007
    Evans, GA
    The defense has held two pretty good offenses to under 20 points. They are not terrible. They are not dominant enough to carry a stagnant offense but don't blame that on them.
     
    dolphindebby and jetssuck like this.
  17. Trowa

    Trowa A world of pain

    5,790
    2,699
    113
    May 8, 2008
    I can't agree with you on much here, man. I'm not gonna come in here and blast you, but I just want to point a few things out. First of all, the Wildcat is our saving grace, not our biggest failure. If we didn't have it on Monday night at the Colts, we would have been slaughtered. We couldn't stop the pass all night. But that doesn't mean our defense sucks. Quite the contrary. Phillip Merling, Max Starks and Kendall Langford make a very stolid 3-4 DE rotation. Justin Ferguson is still good and Paul Solial is much improved this year. We have Joey and Jason rushing the passer, 2 of the best ever. We need help at ILB. I like Channing Crowder as a run stopper, but he can't play in pass coverage. Neither can Ayodele. We need ILBs that can cover the underneath and middle. Secondary we knew was a work in progress. Sean Smith is getting better. Will Allen is still good. Bell is still a good SS. Vontae Davis and Chris Clemons are bright spots on the depth chart. Gibril Wilson is terrible. He's not a coverage guy and he gets picked on all the time. Aside from playing against 3 Hall of Fame calibur TE's the first 3 weeks, why do you think offenses kept going to the TE? Gibril Wilson is a SS, not a FS. He's being played out of position and it's hurting him and us.

    As for the receivers, Camarillo is still our best receiver. Ginn showed flashes of brilliance on Monday night. He'll only be remembered for the 2 missed TDs though, which is wrong. The first one he had no chance of staying in bounds on. The second one Penny delivered the ball late, high and very flat, no zip on the ball. Randy Moss might not even catch that. I've seen Terell Owens and Andre Johnson drop easier TDs than that. Bess is money, I agree. But we don't have Randy Moss on the opposite side to scare people off of our Wes Welker. Hartline and Turner it's still too soon to tell on. We have a very average group of WRs. No super star, but a lot of guys that do certain things well. And for all those that say you MUST have a #1 WR, the Patriots are 3-0 in the Superbowl without a "True #1 WR" and 0-1 with one. A "true #1 WR doesn't win you a super bowl. A team wins the super bowl.

    The next thing to address is the coaching. It's been bad. But Sparano is not a bad coach. Dan Henning offense is historically pretty bland and conservative. Don't forget that David Lee was the one who introduce the wildcat, not Henning. We lost our DBs coach this off-season which is another reason the pass defense has been so bad. I don't think that we're "tanking" it in weeks 1, 2, or 3 as some have suggested. I just think that we're playing intimidated ball, we're coaching intimidated ball and we're losing at intimidated ball. This team lacks confidence, and you can tell. And confidence is a real factor in the wins and losses.

    The WildCat I'm not going to touch, since others have already done it. But I urge you, and all Fins fans to not look to next year. But to look to the rest of this year as a maturing process for our young players. I'm interested to see the development of guys like Jake Long, Merling, Langford, Solial, Clemons, Davis, Smith, Bess, Ginn, Turner, Hartline, Donald Thomas, Cameron Wake, etc. We've got a lot of young pieces on this team. Maybe we don't win that many this year, but we'll have to watch the progression of these players. This year isn't about "rebuilding" the actual rebuilding is mostly done (hopefully) this year is about maturation, progression and team-building. It's not a super bowl, but you have to go through this period to get to a super bowl.

    So let's all get our fingers off the panic button and realize that we had no reason to panic. It was expected of us to be here because we're not ready yet. And, as radical as it seems, don't focus on wins and losses so much this season as you do the players. Have patience.
     
  18. Dorfdad

    Dorfdad Well-Known Member

    4,052
    2,347
    113
    Dec 9, 2007
    Guys sorry been away for a bit, the whole point of this thread wasnt to bash the wildcat or it's productivity, but to say I wish instead of trying to MASK the ineffective offense we have that we try to actually get better pieces to the offense than come up with some gimmick stuff as a Major portion of our offense.

    Thats not to say that it should not or could not be used in situations every few games or some to create a spark like a hurry up offense, but to give it 12-15 plays a game is way to much.

    I think if we never had the wildcat we would be forced to get players to make something happen. Last years success with it caused our front office to believe we could keep the status quo and augment to wildcat with a few players.

    Lets learn from our History and do what is needed thats all..
     
  19. dolphindebby

    dolphindebby Season Ticket Holder Luxury Box

    14,752
    4,873
    0
    Nov 26, 2007
    GA
    The wildcat brought us back from a terrible season and got us to the play offs. So, how in the world could it be considered a bad thing to have?:no:
    I'm for what ever helps us win. I don't give a darn what it is.
    If they have to cut, trade or what ever to win, so be it. Even if it's JP, JT, Brown, Ricky or who ever. I'd cry about it, and probably gripe as well, but I'd still hope for the best..
     
    Dorfdad likes this.
  20. rafael

    rafael Well-Known Member

    27,364
    31,261
    113
    Apr 6, 2008
    If you think of the WC as just a gimmick that masked your problems and stopped you from correcting them then I could see being a hindrance. I just don't agree that it is just a gimmick. It is a basic power running formation. I don't see it as something that DCs will figure out in a few months.

    A good example from history would be the west coast offense. You could think of it as just a gimmick that uses short passes to mask your inability to run or pass protect long enough. But I think history has found it to be a viable NFL offense.

    And while I agree that we used it b/c we had difficulty running from a conventional formation. I don't think the team stopped trying to be able to do that. Our biggest FA acquisition was a player to address that and it was a focus all through TC.

    The drafting of Pat White was partially directed at the WC but as I said immediately after the draft, the pick only made sense if they believe he has the potential to be drop back passer too. About half of the analysts felt he had the skills to be a drop back passer and from his practice duties it appears that the coaches think so as well. Of course they could be wrong. It could turn out t be a bad pick but that's just the nature of the draft. They could have made a bad pick at any position.
     
  21. cnc66

    cnc66 wiley veteran, bad spelur Luxury Box

    31,582
    17,137
    0
    Nov 23, 2007
    exactly why it was created
     
  22. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

    14,523
    22,246
    113
    Nov 25, 2007
    Sunny Florida
    No huddle Wildcat. My nipples just got hard. :shifty:

    Seriously though, I don't know how much it would help....being that it's a one-dimensional formation....unless we threw it.

    Now WildPat in no huddle......if he ever gets acclimated....

    OT: I think Dorfdad was talking about Pat White being the overmatched guy. So far, I would have to agree.

    Still, the BrownCat is gaining 7.65 yards per play. I understand the point you're trying to make. But there is no reason to stop using it. It's money. It continues to work even though teams have had a year to prepare for it. If anything, it might have been better to run it a tad more on Sunday.
     
    Anonymous likes this.
  23. NaboCane

    NaboCane Banned

    31,949
    11,899
    0
    Nov 24, 2007
    Said it before: if we ever start passing about 30% out of the Wildcat, it wil EXPLODE.

    You think the 7-yard average is nice, wait until the D can't just play the run against it.
     
  24. Muck

    Muck Throwback Uniform Crusader Retired Administrator

    14,523
    22,246
    113
    Nov 25, 2007
    Sunny Florida
    I guess another (more extreme) way to look at it would be Dan Marino.

    Would you rather we not had Dan Marino raining bombs across the US for the sake of putting extra focus on improving our defense and running game?

    I don't think the people in charge forgot about anything. Rather, they just can't fix everything in one year. Last year they went after OL and DL. This year it was secondary and WR's (don't laugh).

    Regarding Pat White, yeah....maybe that picked turns out to be a big fat bust. But a team lacking playmakers identified him, right or wrong, as a playmaker. Last year they showed that they can think outside the box and implemented the Wildcat. This year they continued to show that MO by drafting Pat White. Bill Parcells himself told Charlie Casserly IN 2008 that they were going to draft Pat White.

    We can knock them if the kid doesn't pan out. But I don't think we can knock them as ignoring deficiencies on the team or putting too much emphasis on a gimmick. Rather, they're thinking outside the box.

    It appears that they want White to be a QB, but a QB that brings a different set of skills to the table which will allow them to run formations not previously seen in the NFL.

    I guess the thing that gets lost in these games is that it's truly a marathon, not a sprint. We're only a year removed from a 1-15 season. We were never going to win the Super Bowl this season. They've still been another offseason away in my mind from getting the pieces in places to truly compete. Hell, if you turn it around in 3 years that's still pretty fast. It took Jeff Fisher 6 years to post a winning record in Houston/Nashville. And he's one of the best coaches in the NFL.

    It's gonna be tough sledding this year. But the fact that we've been close to dominant in some areas, and overall competitive in every game against a combined 7-2, is grounds for optimism IMO.
     
    Trowa, 2k5 and dolphindebby like this.
  25. Pennington's Rocket Arm

    Pennington's Rocket Arm New Member

    384
    269
    0
    Dec 21, 2008
    the wildcat is as much a gimmick as a play-action pass is. it's simple misdirection and getting the defense to bite on something and taking advantage of it. very basic football, goes back to the 20s and 30s.
     
  26. Lt Dan

    Lt Dan Season Ticket Holder

    2,129
    1,214
    113
    Mar 23, 2008
    Eglin AFB, Fl
    are you nuts? right now the Wildcat gives me the only glimmer of hope for a win.....unless Henne really steps up to the challenge
     
    jetssuck and DOLFANMIKE like this.

Share This Page