Myth No. 1: Defenses have caught on.
Well, that depends on who's running it. Philadelphia is a study in Wildcat frustration with Michael Vick. The Jets tried to throw the formation in Dr. Frankenstein's face when playing the Dolphins recently, lost three yards on the play and didn't try again.
As for the Dolphins, let's not rely on expert commentary. Let's talk cold, dry statistics. They've run 48 Wildcat plays in five games and average 6.6 yards per play. They average 4.7 yards a play out of their base offense.
That's 40 percent more yards per play out of the Wildcat.
Is that a formation that's not working?
Myth No. 2: It's based all trick-eration, as Don King might say.
Or, as Warren Sapp actually said on Showtime, "It's disrespectful to all defenses."
Why? "How the hell you going to throw the ball?" Sapp said. "I'm not even thinking about (defending the throw). I'm going to get everybody in the gap. It's just the "Power O" (play).' You have the running back with the ball already in his hand."
Hmm. It disrespectful, because it's overpowering? Wasn't the "Power O" play what made Larry Csonka a legend and John Riggins a Super Bowl hero? Didn't it help Pittsburgh to six Super Bowls rings?
Last year, the Dolphins ran an unbalanced line, shifting both tackles to one side. This year the Wildcat has evolved to a conventionally balanced line, though often with two tight ends and fullback Lousaka Polite blocking like punches to the gut.
"It's just Power formation upfront,'' Dolphins guard Justin Smiley said.
Myth No. 3: This is as far as the Wildcat goes.
Uh, no. Or, as Sparano says, "There's more meat on the bone."
Namely, there's a passing component to be mined. Sapp was right about that. The Dolphins can throw an occasional changeup to defenses, as they did to the Jets on the second play of their game when Brown threw 21 yards to tight end Anthony Fasano.
"It is purely going against everything out there on their computers,'' Sparano said. "On film right now is, 'no pass,' in the Wildcat."
Myth No. 4: The Dolphins won't use it if they find a Peyton Manning.
Look, the Dolphins are all in on the Wildcat. The drafting of White made that statement.
He hasn't shown much yet. Maybe he never will. But the use of the 44th pick overall on a Wildcat specialist underlined their belief in the formation.
"This has nothing to do with our quarterbacks,'' Sparano said of the Wildcat. "We have a pretty quarterback now (Chad Henne). We had a pretty good quarterback(a few) weeks ago (Chad Pennington).
Myth No. 5: The critics have too much football intelligence to go against.
True, Marino and Jaworski are off the charts in football IQ. But you know what else they have in common?
They're quarterbacks.
So is Atlanta's Matt Ryan, who labeled it a, "fad." You can understand why a quarterback wouldn't like coming off the field for the Wildcat. So does Sparano, which is why when it was introduced last year he told his quarterbacks to, "Check your egos at the door."
Then there's the other critical section, as vocalized by Jets linebacker Calvin Pace. He called the Wildcat," nonsense." That seemed a bit harsh considering he said it minutes after the Dolphins ran the Wildcat over him to score the winning touchdown.
