Wildcat!

[Frimp]

Ok, the Browns just ran the Wildcat on the Giants, and got some good yardage out of it.

Lets keep a running tab on the teams who use it. As you see another team do it, list it here.

I'd bet that every team will have ran it at least once by the end of the post season, and I'd also bet that it will be ran in the playoffs and Superbowl. Next season, it will be just as common as the shotgun.

So far, the teams who have ran the Wildcat are:

Miami Dolphins
Cleveland Browns
Carolina Panthers
New York Jets
New England Patriots
Buffalo Bills
Philadelphia Eagles
Baltimore Ravens
Oakland Raiders
San Francisco 49ers
Kansas City Chiefs
Arizona Cardinals

[Tenshot13]

Didn't the 49ers do it against the Patriots?

[Frimp]

^^

I didn't get to see the game. If they didn't, they should have. 

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

FYI

Direct snap to the RB was not introduced to the NFL by the 2008 Dolphins.  Teams have been doing it for years.  The only thing unique about the Dolphins was running that play a dozen times in the same game. 

[Frimp]

^^^

I never said it was. But, it is a new trend in the NFL which will make the game overall better. It will make defenses guess more, and will make offenses more exciting.

[SportsChick]

The Pats did it against San Francisco not the other way around (it was a direct snap to Faulk who ran it in for a TD)

[Frimp]

^^

So, we'll add the Pats to the list. (They did get a good demonstration on how to run it.) 

[Brian Fein]

direct snap to the RB is not the same as the wildcat formation.  Teams have been doing that forever.

[Thundergod]

I believe I heard Oakland ran it with McFadden.

[fyo]

I believe I heard Oakland ran it with McFadden.

They ran a direct snap to the running back. As Brian said, that's not the same as the Wildcat formation.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

My gosh, the Dolphins have created a monster. 

Coach Sparano, you're such a disease.

Taken from the movie "Home Alone"

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

^^

So, we'll add the Pats to the list. (They did get a good demonstration on how to run it.) 

But that is not hardly the first time they have run that play with Faulk.  Not even the first time they have run it for a TD. 

[Denver_Bronco]

I think its comical how Miami fan thinks they invented the wheel. Please go back and look at the 3 million times the Carolina Panthers ran the play you stole from them with DeAngelo Williams last year.

[fyo]

I think its comical how Miami fan thinks they invented the wheel. Please go back and look at the 3 million times the Carolina Panthers ran the play you stole from them with DeAngelo Williams last year.

I didn't see the Carolina games in question, but there are many, many different formations where a direct snap to a non-quarterback is used. The Wildcat formation is one such and has a number of characteristic properties that distinguishes it from other direct-snap-to-a-RB formations.

That said, there are a variety of Wildcat formations as well. They're all double-wing formations, but if you look at the original one (Hugh Wyatt's, coach of a high school football team called the Wildcats), it actually has the quarterback lined up next to the running back, instead of wide. What the Dolphins are running is probably more correctly called the Wildhog, which was the variant introduced at Arkansas by Gus Malzahn (who had previously used it at Springdale High School). Malzahn was OC at Arkansas before (Dolphins QB coach) David Lee.

The Arkansas variant uses the unbalanced line, which is IMHO the reason Miami is having so much success with it.

I haven't seen any NFL team run anything closely resembling the Arkansas "Wildcat" package before this year, but I could be wrong (feel free to provide a specific game reference).

The original Wildcat formation:
http://www.coachwyatt.com/wildcat.html

[Brian Fein]

The Jets ran the EXACT PLAY against the Raiders yesterday - with Favre out wide and everything - and it got them a good 20-something yards.