ckparrothead
Premium Member
I was as stunned and delighted by the Dolphins' game this Sunday as any of you. I wore a grin the entire day that wouldn't come off.
But as a football fan, and not just a Miami fan, I think we may have witnessed something that makes a real impact in the NFL.
As I go over the X's and O's of this thing, the Wildcat, the formation and it's derivations might actually be something. And, not just for the Dolphins, but for the NFL.
Pat Kirwan has an excellent article out there tying the Wildcat to the "Pony" backfield...which is a dual-halfback backfield.
The dual-halfback look has become increasingly popular over the last several years. Teams have poked and prodded, using it to see if they can come up with creative mismatches. IMO, the unqualified success of the Wildcat may have broken it loose.
The idea behind the Pony (Miami called it Hippo, back in 2005), is that you can try and get a mismatch in the passing game if you're facing a "regular" defensive personnel package. The Brian Westbrooks and Reggie Bush's of the world are supposed to be nigh on "uncoverable" by a linebacker. You pull one of those guys out to the wings, bringing a LB with him, good deal. The front six (which becomes a front six now because the seventh has pulled out to cover the halfback) can't take for granted that the play is going to be a pass, because the offense has six blockers and so they are evenly matched for running, just like a 3-WR package running the ball against a Nickel defense. Does anyone remember the Falcons game in 2005, when Gus Frerotte threw a pick at the end of the game as we're trying to win? After the game the Falcons players were crowing about how when they saw the dual-halfback backfield, they knew the Dolphins would pass out of it like 80 percent of the time.
The problem, as Dick Vermeil once pointed out, is unless one of those two halfbacks can lead block (and how many halfbacks are there out there that can lead block?), the defense is going to treat the Pony as a speed/pass personnel and they're going to go light. If you march out 2 TEs and 2 HBs, the D will go "regular" where they normally would have gone "heavy" if you brought in a FB instead of 2nd HB. If you march out 2 WRs and 2 HBs, the D will go "nickel" or "stack" where they normally should go "regular". If they don't fear the lead blocking of one of your backs, they'll match up their front six against your front six, or front seven against your front seven, and that should be run-neutral. However, with their 5 DBs against your 2 WRs and 1 HB, or their 4 DBs against your 1 WR and 1 HB, that's a mismatch in favor of the defense.
In comes the Wildcat. The great thing about it is, the D doesn't know you're going Wildcat until they've already got their personnel package on the field. All they saw was that the offensive huddle brought a Pony personnel package. By bringing the QB to the fringe of the field and drawing an extra D Player out of the action, and unbalancing one side of the field, the offense has turned the Pony from pass-oriented attack, to a POWER RUNNING attack. Running the ball not only becomes possible, if the Defense is stuck in a lighter package, it becomes desirable.
What I saw against the Patriots was, when we used the Wildcat in the middle of the field, the Patriots did indeed go light on their personnel. We had 2 TEs and 2 RBs in with only 1 WR but instead of the Pats going "heavy" (which would be appropriate if one of the RBs was a lead blocker), they went "regular". The result? Ricky had a 28 yard run, and Ronnie had a 62 yard touchdown run.
Some of these defensive coordinators are out there trying to figure out a way to cover the Wildcat from a light personnel package. But, my guess...is most won't have the horses to do so. What they will have to do, instead, is just treat a 2nd HB like a FB. And, what does this do? It creates a benefit for guys like Westbrook, Bush, maybe Jerious Norwood...
...and perhaps, Ronnie Brown.
This is like tossing a bowling ball into a bath tub, unless defensive coordinators can figure out how to effectively defend the Wildcat using a light personnel package.
Remember when Tony Sparano said that they originally designed all this stuff with different personnel in mind?
He could have meant Ted Ginn. He could have.
But, I think he meant Josh McCown. You see, Josh McCown played WR up in Detroit under Mike Martz. He only caught 2 passes for 15 yards, of course...but that wasn't his role as a WR. He sure as heck knows how to block out there on the fringe of the field, and that's a big positive for getting the Wildcat to work. On the 28 yard run by Ricky Williams, if Chad Pennington doesn't effectively tie up Deltha O'Neal, the play gets stopped.
So where does Ted Ginn fit? Well, Miami certainly put some fireworks out there to where every defensive coordinator facing them is going to know exactly what they are doing if they see a Pony package. They know Miami could go Wildcat formation out of that package, and the ones that think they can stop it from a light package will continue to do that, but other ones will put out a regular package as if the 2nd HB was a FB. That gives Ronnie mismatch opportunities in the passing game. What will a defense do, if they can't trust Ronnie to be covered by a LB out of the Pony?
They'll bring a safety up. What does that mean for Ted Ginn?
Single coverage on the outside with not much deep help.
You see what I mean about the bowling ball in the bath tub? The right offensive development usually sends off a cascade of developments that make a lot of things easier as a defense adjusts to your strength.
The big questions to me are...
1. Can Ronnie continue to be effective passing the ball? I think that ability is critical if we want D-Coords to be scared to use a lighter personnel package.
2. Can D-Coords match up the right personnel to stay light against the Pony? I believe it would require some bigger safeties that won't necessarily get washed out amongst bodies.
3. Can Chad Pennington really block out on the wing? He did ok against Deltha O'Neal, but he might have issues with other CBs or DBs.
4. Can Ronnie Brown truly be a mismatch when brought out of the backfield and put on the line of scrimmage against a LB?
5. Can Chad Pennington get the ball deep to Ted Ginn if we do get safeties forced down to cover our HBs?
By no means should the Dolphins be confident they've got everything figured out on this. As Tony Sparano said...who knows, the Wildcat may be dead. All it takes is one D-Coord to develop one reliable technique and if our personnel can't be relied upon to neutralize it...dead in the water.
But it'll sure be fun to watch. As per Kirwan, he's seen several teams installing these packages this off season. The Saints have it. The Raiders have it. The Falcons have it. I would think only a matter of time before Andy Reid takes hold of it.
I tell you one thing, I'm a heck of a lot more confident in the team now than I was a week ago. If Ronnie Brown is back in 2007 mode, and by all means he appears to be, that's a huge boost for this team. If Merling and Langford, Porter, Holliday, Starks and Ferguson can continue to punish QBs like they did Cassel...that secondary starts to look a LOT better.
I do hope Paul Pasqualoni himself has an answer for the questions brought up by his own team, with respect to the Wildcat and what it means for personnel matching on the Pony.
Exciting stuff.
But as a football fan, and not just a Miami fan, I think we may have witnessed something that makes a real impact in the NFL.
As I go over the X's and O's of this thing, the Wildcat, the formation and it's derivations might actually be something. And, not just for the Dolphins, but for the NFL.
Pat Kirwan has an excellent article out there tying the Wildcat to the "Pony" backfield...which is a dual-halfback backfield.
The dual-halfback look has become increasingly popular over the last several years. Teams have poked and prodded, using it to see if they can come up with creative mismatches. IMO, the unqualified success of the Wildcat may have broken it loose.
The idea behind the Pony (Miami called it Hippo, back in 2005), is that you can try and get a mismatch in the passing game if you're facing a "regular" defensive personnel package. The Brian Westbrooks and Reggie Bush's of the world are supposed to be nigh on "uncoverable" by a linebacker. You pull one of those guys out to the wings, bringing a LB with him, good deal. The front six (which becomes a front six now because the seventh has pulled out to cover the halfback) can't take for granted that the play is going to be a pass, because the offense has six blockers and so they are evenly matched for running, just like a 3-WR package running the ball against a Nickel defense. Does anyone remember the Falcons game in 2005, when Gus Frerotte threw a pick at the end of the game as we're trying to win? After the game the Falcons players were crowing about how when they saw the dual-halfback backfield, they knew the Dolphins would pass out of it like 80 percent of the time.
The problem, as Dick Vermeil once pointed out, is unless one of those two halfbacks can lead block (and how many halfbacks are there out there that can lead block?), the defense is going to treat the Pony as a speed/pass personnel and they're going to go light. If you march out 2 TEs and 2 HBs, the D will go "regular" where they normally would have gone "heavy" if you brought in a FB instead of 2nd HB. If you march out 2 WRs and 2 HBs, the D will go "nickel" or "stack" where they normally should go "regular". If they don't fear the lead blocking of one of your backs, they'll match up their front six against your front six, or front seven against your front seven, and that should be run-neutral. However, with their 5 DBs against your 2 WRs and 1 HB, or their 4 DBs against your 1 WR and 1 HB, that's a mismatch in favor of the defense.
In comes the Wildcat. The great thing about it is, the D doesn't know you're going Wildcat until they've already got their personnel package on the field. All they saw was that the offensive huddle brought a Pony personnel package. By bringing the QB to the fringe of the field and drawing an extra D Player out of the action, and unbalancing one side of the field, the offense has turned the Pony from pass-oriented attack, to a POWER RUNNING attack. Running the ball not only becomes possible, if the Defense is stuck in a lighter package, it becomes desirable.
What I saw against the Patriots was, when we used the Wildcat in the middle of the field, the Patriots did indeed go light on their personnel. We had 2 TEs and 2 RBs in with only 1 WR but instead of the Pats going "heavy" (which would be appropriate if one of the RBs was a lead blocker), they went "regular". The result? Ricky had a 28 yard run, and Ronnie had a 62 yard touchdown run.
Some of these defensive coordinators are out there trying to figure out a way to cover the Wildcat from a light personnel package. But, my guess...is most won't have the horses to do so. What they will have to do, instead, is just treat a 2nd HB like a FB. And, what does this do? It creates a benefit for guys like Westbrook, Bush, maybe Jerious Norwood...
...and perhaps, Ronnie Brown.
This is like tossing a bowling ball into a bath tub, unless defensive coordinators can figure out how to effectively defend the Wildcat using a light personnel package.
Remember when Tony Sparano said that they originally designed all this stuff with different personnel in mind?
He could have meant Ted Ginn. He could have.
But, I think he meant Josh McCown. You see, Josh McCown played WR up in Detroit under Mike Martz. He only caught 2 passes for 15 yards, of course...but that wasn't his role as a WR. He sure as heck knows how to block out there on the fringe of the field, and that's a big positive for getting the Wildcat to work. On the 28 yard run by Ricky Williams, if Chad Pennington doesn't effectively tie up Deltha O'Neal, the play gets stopped.
So where does Ted Ginn fit? Well, Miami certainly put some fireworks out there to where every defensive coordinator facing them is going to know exactly what they are doing if they see a Pony package. They know Miami could go Wildcat formation out of that package, and the ones that think they can stop it from a light package will continue to do that, but other ones will put out a regular package as if the 2nd HB was a FB. That gives Ronnie mismatch opportunities in the passing game. What will a defense do, if they can't trust Ronnie to be covered by a LB out of the Pony?
They'll bring a safety up. What does that mean for Ted Ginn?
Single coverage on the outside with not much deep help.
You see what I mean about the bowling ball in the bath tub? The right offensive development usually sends off a cascade of developments that make a lot of things easier as a defense adjusts to your strength.
The big questions to me are...
1. Can Ronnie continue to be effective passing the ball? I think that ability is critical if we want D-Coords to be scared to use a lighter personnel package.
2. Can D-Coords match up the right personnel to stay light against the Pony? I believe it would require some bigger safeties that won't necessarily get washed out amongst bodies.
3. Can Chad Pennington really block out on the wing? He did ok against Deltha O'Neal, but he might have issues with other CBs or DBs.
4. Can Ronnie Brown truly be a mismatch when brought out of the backfield and put on the line of scrimmage against a LB?
5. Can Chad Pennington get the ball deep to Ted Ginn if we do get safeties forced down to cover our HBs?
By no means should the Dolphins be confident they've got everything figured out on this. As Tony Sparano said...who knows, the Wildcat may be dead. All it takes is one D-Coord to develop one reliable technique and if our personnel can't be relied upon to neutralize it...dead in the water.
But it'll sure be fun to watch. As per Kirwan, he's seen several teams installing these packages this off season. The Saints have it. The Raiders have it. The Falcons have it. I would think only a matter of time before Andy Reid takes hold of it.
I tell you one thing, I'm a heck of a lot more confident in the team now than I was a week ago. If Ronnie Brown is back in 2007 mode, and by all means he appears to be, that's a huge boost for this team. If Merling and Langford, Porter, Holliday, Starks and Ferguson can continue to punish QBs like they did Cassel...that secondary starts to look a LOT better.
I do hope Paul Pasqualoni himself has an answer for the questions brought up by his own team, with respect to the Wildcat and what it means for personnel matching on the Pony.
Exciting stuff.
