Another week, another dose of the ‘Wildcat’ offense in Miami.  The Chicken of the Sea have energized the league with their college (or maybe high school) offensive tactics, and the question has to be raised: Can the Wildcat Really Work?

The Wildcat formation, for those of you who don’t know, involves lining up a RB at QB and essentially running a spread-option offense like we’ve seen in the NCAA from teams like West Virginia, Texas, Missouri, and more.  The RB who is in the QB spot takes a shotgun snap from center and then sticks the ball into the belly of the second RB next to him.  From their, the RB/QB player has options.  He can simply hand the ball off, he can fake the handoff and take off running himself, or he can roll out and pass.  The defensive reaction at the snap determines which option is best.

Fins’ RB Ronnie Brown has been running the Wildcat like a seasoned veteran this year.  Miami really implemented the offense in Week 3 against NE.  The Pats clearly had no idea how to respond, and Brown was soon on his way to a 100-yard, 4-TD day on the ground plus a TD pass to boot.  The Fins stuck with the formation the following week, and again Brown went for over 100 yards. 

In Week 5, they added a new wrinkle.  QB Chad Pennington lined up out wide like a receiver with Brown and Ricky Williams lining up behind the center.  With a little trickeration, Pennington took the ball on what looked to be an end around before stopping and launching a deep pass to a wide-open Patrick Cobbs for a TD.

Three weeks of Wildcat have produced a 2-1 record and lots of offense for Miami.  Were it not for a last-second TD by Matt Schaub last week, the Fins would be undefeated since they began featuring the formation.  The NFL has scorned the spread option to this point, with traditionalists claiming that the speed and smarts of NFL defenders would doom the scheme to failure.  However, with Miami’s recent success, other teams are beginning to experiment with it more often (as seen on Monday night when Cleveland lined up WR Joshua Cribbs at QB several times and ran a straight spread-option attack).  Can the Wildcat offense work long-term?  Time will tell.

The immediate advantage brought about by having a RB line up at QB is that the offense gets to play 11-on-11.  Rather than the QB simply handing off and then ceasing to be part of the play, the Wildcat makes the defense account for everyone on the field.  Another reason it works is because it is difficult to read.  The defense has to be able to immediately discern whether the QB has actually handed off whether it’s a fake.  If the D guesses wrong, they’re in trouble.  Finally, defenders can’t completely commit to stopping the run, as we’ve already seen Miami score a couple of TDs through the air when opponents failed to account for the pass.

While the Wildcat offense won’t produce the type of video-game offensive stats that we’ve seen in college, it certainly seems to keep defenses on their toes and force opposing coordinators to account for something new.  Miami’s opponents have now seen the Wildcat in three successive weeks.  So far, it continues to be successful.  The NFL prides itself on having the best coaches and schemers in the game, yet this offense, regularly seen on high school fields across the country, seems to have flabbergasted supposed defensive gurus.  Until we see a defense step up and truly stop Miami’s new approach, the Wildcat seems to be a success.