The NFL is Getting "Wild"

Since week 3 of the National Football League (NFL) season when the Miami Dolphins blew out the defending American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots; the "Wildcat" offense that was so successful for the Dolphins has spread to other teams all over the NFL. The Wildcat offense is now getting more calls than Young Jeezy's hit track "I Put On" at the introduction of NFL games. And if you don't get my analogy trust me, that's a lot of play.

In the past two weeks the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles have scored touchdowns and many other teams including the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns have implemented plays from the formation into their playbook. None have had the success that Miami has had; the Dolphins have scored 12 touchdowns since they have started using the Wildcat, and have an 5-2 record after their 0-2 start.

The Wildcat formation is defined by having a position player other than the quarterback line up under center and take the snap. From there the possibilities are seemingly endless, we have quarterbacks catching touchdown passes, runningbacks throwing them, and receivers doing, well who knows? As Vince Lombardi would say in his oh-so-overused sound bite, "What the hell is going on out here!"

Well the Wildcat offense's roots come back from even before the days of the constantly annoyed former Green Bay Packers coach. When football first started being played back in the leatherhead days, (no offense George Clooney, but your performance in "Leatherheads" was comparable to Bernie Mac's in Mr. 3000) what is now called the Wildcat formation was the norm. The best athlete on the team took the ball directly from the center and was the primary playmaker.

In today's more sophisticated defenses, its only a matter of time until they figure out a way slow down this formation that is taking the league by storm. But don't tell the Ronnie Brown and the Miami Dolphins that, they scored two more touchdowns from that formation this week, and have won three straight games for the first time since 2003.