Been thinking a lot about our last two starts. One thing that came through is that both the Bills and the Jets put extra wrinkles and nuances into their blitz packages to fool the young quarterback. What happened in both games is that the Wildcat was extremely potent. I think the Wildcat is helping Henne because it forces opposing defensive co-ordinators into trying to do two things 1) Prepare to bring heat for "regular" snaps with Henne at QB; or 2) Prepare for the Wildcat. *edit* and they don't have time to do both well It also helps that Henne has had two games of showing an old head on young shoulders with his decision making. But I also think that the Wildcat is taking pressure of Henne because he's only responsible for being the trigger man for ~75% of the offensive snaps, so the weight of the entire game isn't on his shoulders. Inshort the Wildcat is making it harder for opposing defences to key on Henne and at the same time making Henne's own job easier. In all the discussion about the Wildcat prior to the season I don't think that using the Wildcat to ease the introduction of a new QB was discussed but it seems to me that the Wildcat will do exactly that.
Makes sense. I wonder though, as the ESPN analysts so unkindly pointed out, if this offense will, in essence, take him out of his rhythm? I think you are spot on, but that little nugget the media likes to point out may be the little seedling to make Henne think twice about what the coaching staff is trying to do.
I'm not so sure about the whole "rythym method" argument. For one thing without the rythym method I wouldn't be here since my parents are devout Catholics. On a more serious note if the rythym is for the QB to play 75% of the snaps and be off the field for Wildact 25% and that's what they practice and what they play every game then it isn't taking him out of his rythym because it is the rythym he's used to. What I understood Trent Dilfer's argument to be was that plinking and plonking for the first three quarters and then suddenly being asked to take deep shots in the fourth was what took a QB out of his rythym, and that does make a lot of sense to me.
Uhh....TMI? Yeah, but I guess my thing is, if you've been playing a certain way for 49 or so starts in college, and then come into this, would it be a rhythm "killer"? Esp. when you are really hitting stride at any point during a game. I totally feel you. This is the way Miami practices and essentially, "it is what it is". I just wonder how Henne feels about it (if he has anything to say.....Chad?).
Coach said something i thought about but forgot weeks ago. By putting in the wildcat its like getting a timeout. He gets to talk to his young qb and set the pace. Maybe the same when white goes in he talks to Ronnie who knows
I remember Jaws, Tericho, and Gruden making a joke about that during the game. Only they were impressed at how Henne was handling it. (After two wildcat plays) "Okay Chad, its 3rd and 6, now go in there and get us a 1st down will ya?"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wrote this over in the club to somebody........ For those who did'nt hear Sparano's presser, i will objectively summarize. It was a wildcat clinic.. When it comes to non rhythmic patterns and pat white being part of them, he said this, Its about showing a look to set up the chess game 2 or 3 moves ahead, a pitcher in baseball thinkin about what hes gonna throw 2 pitches ahead...He said they feel good about the play they put in, nothin to fancy, with the intention of the play being sucessful, but, they also do it so they can get a look at the defense for the next sucession of play's. He said the wildcat is all about misdirection and hesitation, the plays are basically the same, strongside, weakside,, downhill, the difference being the formation specific talents of ronnie..nobody knows where hes gonna go....only him... he said They started it because they wanted to give the oline some space and angles to work with..the oline has imbraced the formation now, its theirs. I said this:Good luck to other teams finding their ronnie brown, and getting there whole oline to committ to it....thats not an easy thing to do. Sparano said the formation has seen every defense possible.. He said that while henne is on the sideline during the formation, their using that time to talk about setting up the defense...somethin they could never do.. My own 2 cents here...This is the way i look at it when our proset qb goes to the sideline..With ronnie brown's talents, i would rather him take the handoff, in this formation, then Chad simply handing off to him...iam sure Chad doesnt mind getting some unexpected info on the sideline from his coach rather then handing the ball off to ronnie...bottom line we were gonna run the ball anyway's in that situation, and ronnie in the cat, is a bad *** power running game.. Ive said on several occasions in the past that the wildcat helped chad P in the proset, i didnt know why i thought that, i just saw something in penny that was heightened when he would come back for the next play, almost like he knew how the defense was gonna line up, and he knew how to take advantage of it., and some people told me i was crazy, told me that one had nothing to do with the other, well, to that i say, i have peace about that topic. So, because me and some others on this board, see the vision, and agree with the vision, of our regime, and can project accurately as to why, and how it can evolve, were stupid ?. "It was an inspired play"........very nice Boomer...like i said, whats happening with us and this formation is deep man...can you imagine what putting pat in those situations does for the confidence of your young stud wildcat QB. the coaches know the formation is ours, and that there will be a place for the kid in it. I strongly recommend everyone listening to the presser...must listen.
and look at how far we've come brother, lol....monday nite, our star players, and our star formation made us proud, on many dimensional levels....
Well said I think the wildcat and or any running game of this magnitude would be pretty much any QB's best friend. It just simply takes pressure off the QB and passing game. While there will be occasions where Henne has to trot back onto the field and face 3rd and long, there are also many times when he'll come back onto the field and it's first down, better field position and the defense reeling from literally being run over. He stands on the sideline, catches his breathe, gets a chance to confer with coaches and give the drive some deeper thought. I think for an in-experienced QB, it's a perfect scenario. As far as "rhythm"? I thought we had plenty as an offense. Four different players took a snap under center Monday night, and the transitions couldn't have went much smoother. And with plenty of results ........I'd say that's rhythm.
maybe if Henne had played last year, it might be a different story, because he would've been playing Pennington's role of "decoy" receiver during the Wildcat, and he wouldn't have been on the sidelines learning about the upcoming plays, but with the way it's set-up now, i don't see how it's a bad thing that he comes out for a few plays. it doesn't take a player THAT out of rhythm, i mean, if that were true, then every time the other team got possession, it'd take a while for the QB to get back into rhythm on the next drive. i'd be more worried if the wildcat wasn't working, and Henne had to get back in the game on 3rd and 12 or something, but that never seems to be the case. as long as the "gimmick" keeps working, it's going to help Henne out TREMENDOUSLY.
like i said, its deep man, unrhythmic patterns that become the rhythm........what. Thats some serious ninja sh$# man.
I think it all depends on whether or not Henne is buying what Sparano is selling. That of course in turn comes down to whether or not Sparano is a good HC or just a good coordinator. If he's a good HC then he's got the players in line with his philosophy. Ultimately winning is going to go a long way towards convincing players that Sparano has the right idea. It's hard to argue it's wrong if it's right
