NFL: White perfect fit for Wildcat offense [Archive]

johnnychacski

05-03-2009, 08:34 PM

A year ago, Pat White (http://insider.espn.go.com/nfldraft/draft/tracker/player?draftyear=2009&id=24649) would not have been a hot draft commodity. As a short quarterback who was better known for his running than his passing at West Virginia, White would have gone in the later rounds after trying to prove to teams that he could change positions to wide receiver. But that was before the Wildcat became the NFL's hottest trend.
Miami's variation on the classic single-wing offense worked so well last year that similar direct-snap plays were spreading around the league within weeks. Over half the NFL's teams ran at least one play last year featuring a direct snap to a non-quarterback, or two quarterbacks on the field at once. Now teams like Dallas, New England and Philadelphia are considering White to play a hybrid receiver/quarterback role in their own version of the Wildcat.
But did the Wildcat actually work for other teams besides Miami? The answer is yes, but not always as well as you might expect -- and part of the reason why the Wildcat works explains why teams are interested in White and players like him.
Miami's Wildcat is a very specific formation design. Left tackle Jake Long (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=11234) moves over to the right side. Left guard Justin Smiley (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=5571) always pulls right. One running back is behind the center, while another is on the wing, sweeping across before the snap. You can't just direct-snap the ball to your running back and call it "Wildcat," although apparently nobody told the television play-by-play guys this.
Part of this specific formation design is that all plays from the Wildcat look the same at the start, even though they might end up with a sweep, a plunge up the middle, or even a pass. The first week Miami ran the Wildcat, Ronnie Brown (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=8417) threw a 19-yard touchdown to Anthony Fasano (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=9639) -- and that was enough to set up the possibility of the pass for the rest of the season. Defensive backs had to pause a bit when they saw the Wildcat, for fear they would leave a receiver wide open, and that left space for Brown and Ricky Williams (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=1756) to run.
The more the direct snap presents the threat of a pass, the more likely it is to gain serious yardage. Kansas City's numbers look good primarily because one of its nine direct-snap plays was a pass, Week 9 against Tampa Bay. Running back Jamaal Charles took the snap and handed off to wide receiver Mark Bradley, who threw downfield to quarterback Tyler Thigpen (who had lined up as a receiver) for a 37-yard touchdown. That's the kind of trick play where confusion pays off, leading to a wide-open touchdown.
The Rams also had success by mixing passes into their version of the Wildcat. In Weeks 15 and 16, wide receiver Dane Looker took the ball from Steven Jackson on an end-around and completed passes to quarterback Marc Bulger (who had lined up at receiver) for 11 yards on first-and-15 and six yards on first-and-10. Thanks to those passes, defenses couldn't just load up the middle when Jackson took a direct snap.
Contrast that with the lack of creativity shown by the Cincinnati Bengals in their two Wildcat plays last year. On one, wide receiver Andre Caldwell lined up under center on third-and-2, took the snap, and ran a simple sweep to the left for just one yard. On the other, Cedric Benson took a direct snap on second-and-10 and went straight up into the line for four yards, setting up third-and-long.
Other than Kansas City and Miami, the teams that had the most success with Wildcat style plays were Baltimore and the New York Jets (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/clubhouse?team=nyj), and they show why a team that wants to run similar unconventional plays might want to draft White. Neither team's Wildcat was really the conventional style at all, because neither team snapped the ball to a running back. The Ravens ran a series of plays with two quarterbacks on the field at once, lining up either Joe Flacco (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=11252) or Troy Smith (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=10617) under center with the other lined up as a wide receiver. The Jets snapped to former Missouri option quarterback-turned-NFL wideout Brad Smith (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/players/profile?playerId=9689).
Trick plays work because the defense doesn't know what's coming. Whether you are talking about the true Miami Wildcat or Baltimore's two-quarterback package, the threat of the pass plays an important role. The same threat would exist if a team drafted White and snapped to him two or three times per game. On the other hand, when the offense just direct-snaps to the running back and runs him up into the middle of the offensive line, you end up with an offense that isn't really that wild -- or useful.