The Miami Dolphins' Wildcat offense is not what puts the fear of God in opponents,
according to New Orleans Saints players and coaches,
but the players who run it: Ronnie Brown,
Ricky Williams and rookie quarterback Pat White.
"The design is very challenging,
and when the design fits with personnel,
it becomes what they have when they run it, " Saints Coach Sean Payton said. "You have an effective package
--
good design,
good personnel,
and now it becomes challenging."
Trying to contain the Dolphins' top-ranked rushing offense is one of the challenges facing the undefeated Saints on Sunday at Land Shark Stadium,
in large part because of the trendy Wildcat offense.
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Occasionally,
the Dolphins will flex quarterback Chad Henne out wide,
forcing the defense to devote a player to him. Once,
they grouped four running backs with two tight ends and no quarterback,
suggesting anything is possible.
"Any time you play a scheme like the option or Wildcat,
you have to be very technically sound, " Saints defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis said. "Everybody has to be where they're supposed to be at the right time,
or it all breaks down.
"So we have to be very disciplined this week,
and everybody has to be where they're supposed to be."
Even then,
the Wildcat can be hard to slow down.
For example:
Against Indianapolis in Week 2 on "Monday Night Football, " the Dolphins controlled the clock for a mind-boggling 45:07 and rushed for 239 yards
--
but still lost 27-23.
Against Buffalo in Week 4,
the Dolphins amassed 250 yards rushing and averaged 5.6 yards per carry in a 38-10 victory.
In Week 5 on "Monday Night Football, " the Dolphins turned the Wildcat loose in the fourth quarter en route to a come-from-behind 31-27 victory against the New York Jets. In that game,
Miami ran 16 plays out of the Wildcat for 110 yards,
including the winning 2-yard touchdown run by Brown with 6 seconds remaining.
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Of Brown's 443 rushing yards,
194 have come out of the Wildcat.
"They've got two really good downhill running backs, " Saints strong safety Roman Harper said of Brown and Williams. "So you've got to stay focused and burn your eyes on your keys. We have to play our style and not get caught up about what they're doing."
The Dolphins typically run out of the Wildcat formation,
but on three occasions have thrown passes this season,
twice by Brown,
who is 1-for-2 for 21 yards. White,
a second-round draft pick and a former quarterback at West Virginia,
has thrown an incompletion.
"We don't have a contract with them that they can't throw out of it,
and we understand that, " Harper said. "Ronnie Brown is a lefty,
so you got to understand that whenever he's going to his left what might happen,
and Ricky is right handed.
"We know (the Wildcat) is going to evolve every play,
every game. Just when people start to stop one thing,
they're going to go to another."
There is much conjecture about where the Wildcat originated,
but the Dolphins are widely acknowledged as the forerunner in the NFL,
due largely to the genius of Dolphins offensive coordinator Dan Henning and quarterbacks coach David Lee.
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