Did the Wildcat formation really win the game for the Fins??

[finmann]

I think not...I see alot of people talking about the Wildcat formation on Sportcenter and other places as if this won the game for us. This play was only run what was it 6 times I think, and yes we scored off of it but to hear the patriots players talk, you would think that this was the reason we won the game. We dominated that game in the trenches and smashed them in the mouth when we had to. Our Oline didn't give up a sack, and our Dline played like probowlers. So yes it is fun to talk about the Wildcat formation, but we beat the Patriots with sound football too. To hear it spoken any other way is a little disrespecting.

 

[fakespike]

respek

 

[BizarroAndres]

I agree, i thought our offense played well all around.

 

[isaacjunk]

counterpoint

Actually, I dunno. You look at the scores and the red zone woes that we have had this and last year, plus the Patriots traditionally being really tough inside the red zone...I think it's likely we would've won still but some of those TDs would almost certainly have been field goals, which changes the complexiion of the game entirely. it probably would've still been within 2 scores into the fourth quarter, and if so, who knows? So it's hard to be too confident.

 

[Pinkboy]

You can't look too much into one game. The dolphins are not as good as they looked against the Patriots and they are not as bad as they showed vs the Cards.

 

[=FinTunaWorld=]

Does it really matter if it did or it not?

"You play to win the game"

 

[dolfan19]

Well, they're talking about it for a couple reasons.

First - it's different. Anything different always gets attention. I know other teams have toyed around with it for a couple plays, but noone has had the success we had in one game. We scored on, I believe, 4 plays out of that formation? Or 5? either way, it's success rate was incredible.

Also, it happened against none other than the high and mighty Patriots, in their house, nonetheless. These guys are the NFL's baby, the face of the league. And we smashed them in the mouth and beat them to death, and the biggest plays were out of that formation. Of course they're going to overlook the big plays out of our regular formation. They won't make headlines.

 

[arsenal]

i think everyone is giving too much atention to the formation... the key is when we ran it we executed properly... our line blocked well, our WRs blocked, our RBs made people miss, etc...

we can call any kind of plays out of any formation, if we dont execute it is not going to work... Sunday we executed and i think thats more important than what formation we ran out of...

 

[Marino613]

Pennington's take

“I’m comfortable with whatever works for us. It’s something that is a good design for us and it’s something that we want to use to our advantage. I think the reason our package worked was because of our ‘Base’ offense being successful. If our ‘Base’ offense isn’t successful, those type of packages don’t work a lot of times. They are accessory packages, they aren’t ‘Base’ packages. We were able to run the ball effectively with our normal personnel and formations, we were able to throw the ball effectively on first and second down. That gave us leverage to be able to use the other type of packages.”

 

[Aqua Shadow]

I really don't think it matters what formation you run. For all we know, we could be putting in a wishbone or some other different formation. As long as it is legal, there is a way to stop it and if there wasn't everyone would be running it. Any formation and play can be stopped no matter what!

The reason that everyone is making a big deal about it is that in the NFL today, most teams have the same formations and plays. The main reason for practice isn't so much to game plan a certain formation but the players on the other team. That also leaves a lot of time for individual players to improve their game with the small details and techniques. It always for improvement from week to week. That is what my high school coach pretty much said at least.

If we ran that formation every game, and we executed it perfectly, I see no reason why it wouldn't work again. I actually really hope that we do keep it in and that we add more different formations throughout the year to expand our options on offense!

 

[chillwill3000]

As long as we stay unpredictable on offense, and play solid defense we can win games, the wildcat is something we need to use ever now and again, but we can't depend on that to win games. teams will look at the film and adjust to it. it is a good formation though because there are alot of options out of the formation, but like penny said, the base offense must be established first.