I would love to go one game without a single wildcat snap. I believe Ronnie and Ricky can get going and pick up huge chunks of yards in our base offense. History has proven Ronnie gets better and better in games, but to me the wildcat takes this away in a sense. I also think the wildcat reduces the effectiveness of what the play action pass could be to this offense. I would much rather see screens and Ronnie or Ricky out in the flats or going up the sideline more than we do. I believe the wildcat has helped this offense, but I just want to see a string of games with 0 wildcat snaps and see what happens. If we were to see the wildcat I believe it is a redzone only offense where Ronnie or Ricky could pass if the TE goes unnoticed into the corner of the endzone like we've seen. What would you like to see happen with the wildcat in the coming games? My vote is to make the wildcat strickly a redzone threat for the rest of the season.
I like your thinking RW. I too think we use it too much sometimes. Teams are preparing for it alot. That takes away from them preparing for our base formations. I say we use more base.
I picked other. You have to run it early to see if they can stop you. If so, you use it as a decoy and have Pat White throw out of it as they blitz corners a few times. If they can't stop it, you take the 5 yards per play average and run Ronnie and Ricky.
My problem with the Wildcat is that they tend to use it incorrectly. For instance, this past Sunday Henne and the conventional offense were moving the ball down the field and then they started using the Wildcat with Ronnie and Pat White and wound up killing the drive. The Wildcat should definitely stay but Henning needs to realize when and when not to use it.
I think we should either use the Wildcat to start a drive, or don't use it all. It's frustrating to see the conventional offense get a great drive going - like last week when we drove it down to the New England 30 yard line - only to see the drive sputter on a double reverse/pass. I understand using it to keep teams honest, but I think at times the offense takes itself out of rhythm, moreso than it does defenses.
Agreed. However, I'd like to see Pat White on the field at the WR position instead of Henne. It's pointless to have Henne out there anyway considering he can't block and isn't really a threat to pass out of the formation. I wouldn't even mind seeing White come across on the sweep. There's defintely still alot of wrinkles they can add.
Pat White they can line him up anywhere, the ball can snapped directly to anyone in the backfield only White has the experience to run the complete system
I believe this is the reason I am starting to really dislike the wildcat. It seems like this happens more often then not. Maybe from a stats standpoint it's different, but it sure doesn't feel that way. The wildcat is like Ted Ginn. One game your the next your
We've got to prove we can throw out of it effectively. We keep running from it and teams are just going to pack the box and blitz with the corners leaving Ronnie/Ricky nowhere to go. Sure, they can break a play now and then, but until we can line up in the WC and teams have to respect we can pass the ball on them, it's not going to be as effective as we saw it last year.
We've got to get the passing aspect into play a lot more. Teams will keep blitzing with their corners to stop it and you need to pass more to keep them honest.
I think it should be used as a goalline offense. i've seen other teams use it that way (SD, DAL). But I also think we should continue to use it sparingly at all spots on the field. Stay unpredictable, ya know.
Henning definately needs to realize when we should use it, there is no need to get cute when our passing game is working fine or a conventional run game is working fine.
It's something that is efficent in time possesion and moving the markers, so theres no reason to eliminate it. If anything, it needs to evolve more to involve other players under center and more motion to throw defenses off. Ricky in motion is a good start, but Henne should be in motion from one side of the line to the other JUST to play mind games,
complete overreaction imo... Not understanding of the big picture..nor the intricacies of what were trying to accomplish here. The formation has been put in the game under tremendous pressure situations, we have thrown Pat white into the fire to show certain looks to a defense, all for the future..the more levels we show to the league, the more in depth they must prepare for... That fact that we executed all levels with some sort of sucess, including Pat white's package, will start to pay dividends..The intention of what were trying to do here, is test the mental capacity of NFL defenders, lets see how much information they can retain while still keeping their aggressiveness in nature. You will be purring just like a cat again after sunday... There is a plan and a method to the unrhythmic patterens of offense you are seeing..just be a little patient so the work that we have done, will pay off.
I don't agree with not using it at all or just in the redzone as the original poster stated but Rocky hits the nail on the head with his analysis. It needs to be more strategic. If a team has clearly prepared for it stop trying to force it. A good coordinator adapts and changes game plans. Use other formations and regular offense. Find what will work. I'm sick of seeing them force Pat White into the mix as well. He's clearly not ready. Besides the one play he made against the Patriots every time he comes in it's a completely wasted down. Use what has worked, Ronnie Brown running the WC or don't use it. People don't realize that IMO the clear reason we even thought of using the Wildcat offense is becasue we have two top tier RB's. Ricky and Ronnie and it was a unique way to get them both on the field at the same time to utilize their talent. Do you all really think we'd be running the Wildcat if we had Drew Brees back there at QB? We brought it in because it fit our strength on offense and hid our weakness, the passing game. Taking Ronnie Brown out of the WC negates the whole reason we went to the formation. If Pat White develops in the next coming years and finds some accuracy we'll talk about tweaking it then. Henne needs some games where they are utilizing him more as well. I've yet to see a game where Henne could even begin to get any type of a rhythm going.
I'm torn on the wildcat. I don't believe it is a gimmick or trick play, since you can't successfully run an end around or a flea flicker on 3 straight plays, but you can run the wildcat as if it is a base formation. But at the same time I do sense that it is sometimes inserted at the worst time, just when Henne is getting into a rhythm. But I've often gotten that sense only to see Ricky or Ronnie rip off a 20 yard run on the first wildcat play, and Henne come back in and not miss a beat. Simply put, the wildcat is a double edge sword and momentum shifter. Like going for it on 4th down, or a surprise onsides. Only the Dolphins have much more success running the wildcat than any average football team has on 4th down attempts or onsides kicks. It is a momentum shifter that works in the Dolphins favor 66% of the time. There isn't a long history of stats the coaching staff can use to determine the clear best and worst times to insert the wildcat, so we'll have to continue to suffer through the wildcat being used at the worst time sometimes.
i don't think we should quit it all together but we should use it more sparingly.it works really well deep in the redzone most of the time but i wish we wouldnt use it so much and as the same play the other times.that saints 2nd half we kept running it to the outside over and over again even though they were shutting the edge with great succes..jeez how about a little mix up henning? that showed the lack of ability for adjustment on the fly on henning's part. secondly while i like the fact that it can give you the extra time out on the field,i would really like to see henne get into a groove.it seems everytime henne makes a great throw we yank him and i dont like that it's done sooo much.
the wildcat is here to stay Pat White was drafted to captain the system expect to see much more not much less of it as White gains NFL experience we have all the pieces in place to make it work just a matter of using it in the game & it will take off
The formation is condusive to great talent running it..I would say that Ronnie, Ricky and pat together, evolving within, with some solid time executing, will be relatively as dangerous as any running formation, Continue to evolve the formation..there is a big picture here i believe, and all were doing now, is laying the groundwork.
Other: Be more careful not to get too cute with it. Especially in situations where we are in field goal range and a 5 yard loss makes the field goal harder or impossible. Be more aware of Henne's momentum and when it should not be interrupted by the WildCat.
Someone did a detailed analysis of the "rhythm" interrupted when Henne comes out for the Wildcat, and it showed that it didn't affect his ability to complete passes at all. I wish I had the thread saved, but unfortunately I was at work and didn't bookmark it at home. I will try my best to find it and update this post the second I do.
Without the WC, what's our record, last year and this? Now, we are sooo good that we no longer need it. I think it's funny that it is even brought up.
Henne just needs to make the plays down field and no more excuses..... Today is the season folks.......... d-1