Q: A lot is being made of the Wildcat. What makes it so effective for you guys?
A: I think the people that are handling the football for us. Certainly with Ronnie (Brown), Ricky (Williams), Pat (White), with any of the people handling the football, Pat Cobbs before his injury…Any of the people handling the football for us were people that we trusted and second of all that I think are pretty good players. I also think that there’s some misdirection involved in the Wildcat. It helps create a few blocking angles for the people up front.
Q: Is it the single wing or a derivative of the single wing?
A: No. I would say it’s an offshoot of the single wing. I think that some of the things we are doing are a little bit different than the good old single wing. I would say it’s a little bit different.
Q: Do you guys take pride in that a lot of teams try to replicate and duplicate this offense, but you guys are the most successful?
A: I don’t think we take great pride in anybody else running it, particularly when it shows up against us at times. I do think from our end, the guys take great pride in it. It’s something that we’ve been able to put our arms around here. It’s a small part of what we do. It’s not everything we do, but it certainly gets a lot of attention.
Q: What went through your mind in deciding to run it?
A: I think we are just looking for a little bit of an identity at the time. We were 0-2. We had just gotten beaten pretty badly by Arizona at Arizona and this was something that we had spent some time working on at OTA’s in the spring, no different than probably anybody else spends some time working on some things they’re not sure that they’re going to run during the season. At that time, Ronnie Brown was coming off of an ACL, Ricky (Williams) coming off of a shoulder surgery. We weren’t sure if we had the pieces or not. After the Arizona ballgame we knew a little bit more obviously about our team. We were trying to get Ricky and Ronnie on the field at the same time and this was the way to do that and at the same time help our offensive line create a little bit of space.
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Q: While you watch other teams try to defend it, do you also have to stay ahead of the curve offensively?
A: Yes, the nice thing about it and I think one of the things that helped us this year is that we had about 100 plays whereas it was on film for the whole league to see last year. They were studying it, which I’m sure everybody did in the offseason as we went out in preseason and some of these things. The more people you see running it across the league, the more evidence there is on tape of how some people might do something against it. When we get in a game for whatever reason it never quite looks the same.
Q: Are you surprised or do you have a response to when some analysts knock it or say it isn’t real football?
A: Nothing surprises me anymore. I think that what I’ve learned in this league yards are hard to come by, so are wins. Anyway we can get yards and get closer to wins, we’re going to do it. I really could care less about what anyone else has to say.
Q: When you put on the tape and watch the Saints on offense and defense, what is the one thing that jumps out at you?
A: I think their team speed is one of the things that jumps out at you, also the fact that they are a very physical team on both sides of the football. I think their front on defense is very, very physical. I think their front seven people do ian outstanding job against the run and they get after you pretty good in the pass game. I think on the other side of the ball that offensive line is really a physical group. They do a nice job in there, a good hardball run game that they got going and do a great job of protecting the passer. I think those are the things that jump out at you, never mind the weapons. I think they have so many weapons down there and to me it all starts with the quarterback. He’s an outstanding player.
Q: How has Chad Henne handled the transition into the starting role? Did him starting for four years at Michigan help?
A: I hope so. I think it did. I think that one of the things is, it’s more with these college kids coming out of these big programs like Chad has, they’ve played in some big football games before so the first time you roll them out there and they’re in front of a big crowd. That is really the issue. What might be the issue is the team speed you’re playing against, certainly the level of player. Even there, with Michigan playing Ohio State or any of those people you would think it’s a pretty darn good competition out there on the field. It think that’s been certainly a help, but I think one of the biggest helps that Chad Henne has had here is that I think he is really well coached and I think Chad Pennington did a marvelous job in helping with this process.
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