Dan Henning: Miami Dolphins ‘have to be frugal’ with Wildcat

So, if we're to read between the lines here, it sounds like Sparano told Henning to shelve it after the White fumble against NE ... coincidentally that was the last time we saw White on the field.

What will be interesting to see is if we use it at all for the remainder of the season.

"Vengeful Odin wrote:

So, if we're to read between the lines here, it sounds like Sparano told Henning to shelve it after the White fumble against NE ... coincidentally that was the last time we saw White on the field.

What will be interesting to see is if we use it at all for the remainder of the season.

not true
white came back in at the 4 minute mark of the 3rd qtr
the play went for no gain

I can see why its on the shelve with Ronnie injured and all.Plus I like to see it used more sparingly because it gives it more of a surprise factor when we do use it and then throw in a few wrinkles. Also I think it is good for Henne to be counted on more and is good for his development,plus he handled it good last week.

Honestly, without Ronnie Brown, the only time I'd like to see it is in goaline situations as it gives us an extra blocker for Ricky.

The caveat being that no pass plays are allowed to be called!!!!

"RoninFin4 wrote:

Honestly, without Ronnie Brown, the only time I'd like to see it is in goaline situations as it gives us an extra blocker for Ricky.

The caveat being that no pass plays are allowed to be called!!!!

I totally disagree bro. Ricky can run it. Put Hillard and Sheets in there as well. Henning just needs to make sure he calls good plays when using the wildcat. By that I mean no throwing plays when we are smelling the end zone. :wink2: The offense can still be creative without Ronnie.:yes: Pound the Rock!

"RoninFin4 wrote:

Honestly, without Ronnie Brown, the only time I'd like to see it is in goaline situations as it gives us an extra blocker for Ricky.

The caveat being that no pass plays are allowed to be called!!!!

yes definitely at the goal line only
load up
rick gets the ball from the direct and has plenty of room to pick a hole

Look what Cribbs is doing tonight for Cleveland.:wink2:

i don't care what we do so long as it gets into the endzone.

we could flop our way there and make it onto NFL blooper tapes but as long as it gets us 6 that's fine with me

interceptions that close to the endzone from any player other than a quarterback are completely unacceptable.

Im liking the limited usage of it, NOBODY in the NFL ran the WC as good as Ronnie. Im not saying abandon it but 3-4 times a game makes more sense thn 10-12.

Sorry to say it but will Pat White ever be a good pick?

I say we run it with RW early and if it loks to work than keep doing it here and there, but I tell you RW looked very tired in the second half against Buff. Its better for us to keep passing a good amount i think.

Or maybe Hilliard could show he can spell RW well enough to allow us to keep pounding it. You really never know what your gonna get from our boys.

"Fin-Omenal wrote:

Im liking the limited usage of it, NOBODY in the NFL ran the WC as good as Ronnie. Im not saying abandon it but 3-4 times a game makes more sense thn 10-12.

Sorry to say it but will Pat White ever be a good pick?

I say we run it with RW early and if it loks to work than keep doing it here and there, but I tell you RW looked very tired in the second half against Buff. Its better for us to keep passing a good amount i think.

Or maybe Hilliard could show he can spell RW well enough to allow us to keep pounding it. You really never know what your gonna get from our boys.

You don't need Pat to run the wildcat, let Ricky and the boys take care of that. Hilliard is ready, Henning just needs to give him more touches to keep Ricky fresh. The wild card here that we don't know about that I would like to see is Sheets. Get the three headed monster running the ball, and take pressure off Henne. When the opposing defenses try to stack the box, do some quick slants and let Henne show what he can do. There is still too many possibilities here to go conservative on offense. The defenses are expecting that. Open it up and lets play for it all right now.:up: We got nothing to lose, plus we see what some of the young guys have in them.

"Fin Fan In Cali wrote:

You don't need Pat to run the wildcat, let Ricky and the boys take care of that. Hilliard is ready, Henning just needs to give him more touches to keep Ricky fresh. The wild card here that we don't know about that I would like to see is Sheets. Get the three headed monster running the ball, and take pressure off Henne. When the opposing defenses try to stack the box, do some quick slants and let Henne show what he can do. There is still too many possibilities here to go conservative on offense. The defenses are expecting that. Open it up and lets play for it all right now.:up: We got nothing to lose, plus we see what some of the young guys have in them.

I agree with getting Hilliard the ball in order to keep Ricky fresh. I, however, do not know if Hilliard is "ready". There have been a few plays where Hilliard has missed some questionable holes. He runs pretty hard, which I like, but one has to wonder why he has not been in there more? Does he not know/understand the playbook? Is he bad in pass blocking?

I think the latter is probably the case, because even if it is a short-yardage situation, defenses can key in on Hilliard because he may not possess pass blocking skills. That's my only conclusion, because I think his running style warrants 9-12 carries a game, if only to give Ricky a breather. We NEED Ricky to be relatively healthy if we are to make this run. Miami needs to be smart in how they go about "saving" Ricky. Ricky has been taking plenty of shots, and no amount of "pranic healing" is gonna save his ass come crunch time.

"Colmax wrote:

I agree with getting Hilliard the ball in order to keep Ricky fresh. I, however, do not know if Hilliard is "ready". There have been a few plays where Hilliard has missed some questionable holes. He runs pretty hard, which I like, but one has to wonder why he has not been in there more? Does he not know/understand the playbook? Is he bad in pass blocking?

I think the latter is probably the case, because even if it is a short-yardage situation, defenses can key in on Hilliard because he may not possess pass blocking skills. That's my only conclusion, because I think his running style warrants 9-12 carries a game, if only to give Ricky a breather. We NEED Ricky to be relatively healthy if we are to make this run. Miami needs to be smart in how they go about "saving" Ricky. Ricky has been taking plenty of shots, and no amount of "pranic healing" is gonna save his ass come crunch time.

Bro it could also be he needs more snaps to get used to the offensive line, and being out there to get comfortable. I would like to see what he could do with more snaps on the field.:wink2:

Hilliard is a slashing Rb, he has a very different running style from Ronnie B or Ricky, he will cut back in the lane all the while keeping his mass leaning forwards.

As for the WC...we really should run it..occasionally...maybe with White as the Qb or on the Jet Sweep.

"Fin Fan In Cali wrote:

Bro it could also be he needs more snaps to get used to the offensive line, and being out there to get comfortable. I would like to see what he could do with more snaps on the field.:wink2:

Who knows? I just know the guy is not getting out there. I think runningback is probably the easiest position to transition to the NFL (not that ANY are easy), and the guy ran 800+ times while in college, so he knows how to run.

I really think it is his ability (or inability) to see the blitz, etc., in passing situations. He's a helluva stout runner, and I am really surprised he has not gotten more carries. Maybe we'll see more of him this weekend? Maybe Sparano has a plan...maybe to hide him from defenses until we make our run? Who knows?

"Fin Fan In Cali wrote:

I totally disagree bro. Ricky can run it. Put Hillard and Sheets in there as well. Henning just needs to make sure he calls good plays when using the wildcat. By that I mean no throwing plays when we are smelling the end zone. :wink2: The offense can still be creative without Ronnie.:yes: Pound the Rock!

Not sure I understand the response bro. I know Ricky can run the Wildcat, but let's be frank...Lex Hilliard is NOT Ricky Williams running that speed/sweep motion. I don't think that really gives a defense much to worry about. I can't remember any plays that Ricky has run in the Wildcat (taking the snap) that have worked save the play he scored on the goaline against Carolina.

What plays with Pat White have led to much success in it? The option worked once against New England the first time, but it flopped the second. I don't think anyone should be throwing out of the Wildcat unless it's Ronnie Brown, which we won't see until 2010 or Chad Henne if it's like the reverse pass we saw Pennington run last year against the Texans and the Jets.

I would ban all Wildcat passing plays once inside the opponents 30 yard line.

DOLPHINS TIDBITS: Ricky Williams has been handling the load on the ground for Miami since Ronnie Brown went down with a season-ending foot injury last month, but second-year running back Lex Hilliard has been running hard and catching Sparano's eye. Sparano has really been impressed with Hilliard's blocking as well as catching the ball out of the backfield, so Hilliard is emerging as a viable second option when Williams needs a breather. …

HERE

"RoninFin4 wrote:

Not sure I understand the response bro. I know Ricky can run the Wildcat, but let's be frank...Lex Hilliard is NOT Ricky Williams running that speed/sweep motion. I don't think that really gives a defense much to worry about. I can't remember any plays that Ricky has run in the Wildcat (taking the snap) that have worked save the play he scored on the goaline against Carolina.

What plays with Pat White have led to much success in it? The option worked once against New England the first time, but it flopped the second. I don't think anyone should be throwing out of the Wildcat unless it's Ronnie Brown, which we won't see until 2010 or Chad Henne if it's like the reverse pass we saw Pennington run last year against the Texans and the Jets.

I would ban all Wildcat passing plays once inside the opponents 30 yard line.

We don't know if Hilliard or Sheets can do anything out of the wildcat because we haven't seen either of them out of it. Frankly that's been a little disappointing.

personally, im just annoyed that we have only tried one pass with Pat White. You would think the pass White made was picked off or off by a mile with the way we're afraid to let him throw another one. As far as i can tell he just threw it a couple yards too deep for Ginn. People keep calling him a bust but he's a QB whose only been told to throw it once in his career so far. It's obvious that whenever he's in, it's a run. How can he be effective when the defense knows exactly what he's going to do?

All in all i guess what I'm saying is, we're dismissing what used to be a very effective weapon for us without even attempting to use it anymore.

Johnny, i disagree brother..

Its the right move imo, and a move thats been overdue..

As soon as Ronnie went down, i wrote that it should be dead, nothing that has transpired since that moment has made me think i was wrong in that opinion.

Now that being said, i know Sparano does'nt want anyone to know that its dead, they value so much making the weekly opponent spend time on it, he's never gonna outright say its dead, which is also the correct move..To counter that, if iam a defensive cordinator, i could care less if they run it now, because i know its the player that makes the formation..

..Josh cribbs has nice wildcat skills......as Nasty would say, he's the 2nd best in the league.

"djphinfan wrote:

Johnny, i disagree brother..

Its the right move imo, and a move thats been overdue..

As soon as Ronnie went down, i wrote that it should be dead, nothing that has transpired since that moment has made me think i was wrong in that opinion.

Now that being said, i know Sparano does'nt want anyone to know that its dead, they value so much making the weekly opponent spend time on it, he's never gonna outright say its dead, which is also the correct move..To counter that, if iam a defensive cordinator, i could care less if they run it now, because i know its the player that makes the formation..

..Josh cribbs has nice wildcat skills......as Nasty would say, he's the 2nd best in the league.

The part that really gets to me is that we are going to let one player dictate to our OC and HC that will not run our offense anymore. If Ronnie learned the wildcat and did it well so can others with the right amount of time, and actually getting on the field. If I am Ronnie Brown's agent right now I am very excited because I have the Miami Dolphins right where I want them, over a barrel.:wink2:

"Fin Fan In Cali wrote:

The part that really gets to me is that we are going to let one player dictate to our OC and HC that will not run our offense anymore. If Ronnie learned the wildcat and did it well so can others with the right amount of time, and actually getting on the field. If I am Ronnie Brown's agent right now I am very excited because I have the Miami Dolphins right where I want them, over a barrel.:wink2:

Your right, the wild cat will make Ronnie alot more money...top 5 money. Will we be willing to pay for a player who is a pro bowl talent but cant finish seasons? I really hope he resigns, would we franchise him?

"padre31 wrote:

Hilliard is a slashing Rb, he has a very different running style from Ronnie B or Ricky, he will cut back in the lane all the while keeping his mass leaning forwards.

As for the WC...we really should run it..occasionally...maybe with White as the Qb or on the Jet Sweep.

The problem is we havent been running the WC w/ the Jet Sweep.

"Fin-Omenal wrote:

Your right, the wild cat will make Ronnie alot more money...top 5 money. Will we be willing to pay for a player who is a pro bowl talent but cant finish seasons? I really hope he resigns, would we franchise him?

I personally don't think he is worth top 5 money. This is another reason why I don't understand why the Dolphins don't use Ricky or another player more to get another player more experience to use it, so the agent for Ronnie doesn't try to break the bank on us on his next deal because he is the only one that can do it successfully.

See, white doesnt have a lot to do with the wildcat though? He's been running the option mainly and i can fully understand why we should throw that idea away. The wildcat i think could still benefit us in certain situations. Especially against teams that havint seen it as much like a Tennessee or Jacksonville.

"Fin Fan In Cali wrote:

The part that really gets to me is that we are going to let one player dictate to our OC and HC that will not run our offense anymore. If Ronnie learned the wildcat and did it well so can others with the right amount of time, and actually getting on the field. If I am Ronnie Brown's agent right now I am very excited because I have the Miami Dolphins right where I want them, over a barrel.:wink2:

Its a peripheral thing, something that cant be taught imo....The ability to do three things at once while keeping your eyes on the dline, while never really looking at the ball, is what makes him special..