Dolphins go Hog Wild with ‘Wildcat’
The Miami Dolphins snapped New England’s 21-game, regular season home winning streak in dominating fashion Sunday and did so using a formation very familiar to Arkansas fans.
The ‘Wildcat’ formation, first used by the Hogs in 2006 with Darren McFadden lined up at quarterback, was implemented by the Dolphins coaching staff last week. Running back Ronnie Brown was your McFadden in the formation and rushed for 117 yards and a franchise record 4 touchdowns in Miami’s 38-13 win. Brown also threw a touchdown pass while lined up under center.
So, what brought up the idea of implementing an offensive gameplan from college to the NFL and how was it so dominating? Well, David Lee, the Razorbacks’ offensive coordinator in 2007. Lee is now the quarterbacks coach at Miami.
After a 31-10 loss at Arizona on Sept. 14, Miami head coach Tony Sparano couldn’t sleep on the plane ride home.
Here’s more from Jeff Darlington of the Miami Herald:
”I brought [quarterbacks coach David Lee] up to the front of that plane,” Sparano said, referring to the flight home after the 34-10 (sic) loss to Arizona. “We just chatted a little bit.”
What they chatted about would lead to the use of innovative plays featuring Brown and Ricky Williams; plays that were dynamic enough to make New England coach Bill Belichick look like the puzzled victim rather than the relentless mastermind.
The Dolphins ran the formation six times against the Patriots, getting touchdowns on four of the attempts, including a 62-yard TD by Brown.
The coaching staff implemented the plays during practice last Wednesday, according to the Herald. Again, here’s more:
”I don’t usually get tired at practice, but I almost had to tap out on Wednesday,” Williams said.
Offensive and defensive players became excited about the potential of the package of plays. Brown said he knew this would be a big opportunity for him, and nose tackle Jason Ferguson said glimpses of the play in practice caused the defense to raise their eyebrows with intrigue.
By the game’s end, Miami had handed Belichick his worst loss at Foxboro …
The plays have been all the rage among the media covering the NFL. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Dave Hyde wrote, “a college formation embarrassed a dynasty.”
Hyde also claims that Lee invented the formation at Arkansas.
Don’t know where he got that info. As we know, the Hogs started running the formation in 2006, when Gus Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at the UA and Lee was quarterbacks coach with the Dallas Cowboys.
With the success the formation has had in college and now in the NFL, it makes you wonder why McFadden, the man who made the formation a household name while at Arkansas, doesn’t get a few snaps in the formation for the lowly Raiders.
(Photo by Winslow Townson, Associated Press)
– Brandon Marcello
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3 Responses to “Dolphins go Hog Wild with ‘Wildcat’”
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The biggest error I think Houston Nutt made was not sticking with Malzahn and his offense. We HAD to run the ball a lot since we had McFadden and Felix; you’d be crazy not to utilize that kind of talent. But with Malzahn’s offense we would have developed a much better passing game. Now on to McFadden and the Raiders. I fully expect to see them run the “Wildhog” formation soon. It’s gimmicky, but it works right now because it’s new to the NFL. Maybe we’ll even see Felix run out of the formation with the Cowboys…
[...] another 11:30 am start. Felix Jones scored another TD this past Sunday Night. David Lee brought the Wildhog to Miami and helped the Fins crush the Pats Sunday. The 2009 baseball schedule is out. The NCAA has denied [...]
[...] resulted against Bill Belichick’s New England defense has everyone going goggly-eyed. As we mentioned previously, you can thank the Arkansas Razorbacks, who made the old formation famous again in 2006 and 2007 [...]