The wildcat: here to stay?

Is the Wildcat here to stay?

It seems that we can’t get through a day this summer without talking about the wildcat offense that’s supposedly taking the NFL by storm, just as the triple option did to college football in the 1980s and the spread is doing in the present day with quarterbacks like Tim Tebow of Florida.

APTebow has made the Spread Option a dangerous offense at Florida.

In an interesting read by John Clayton of ESPN, a majority of coaches think the wildcat offense is going to be around the league for a while.

I agree — to an extent — because defensive coaches have had an entire offseason to dissect this scheme on film and come up with ways to shut it down. And just like the run-and-shoot we used to see down in Houston with the Oilers, this offense will become extinct after time.

The Dolphins and Ronnie Brown introduced us to it last year and actually took it to one of the better defensive minds in Bill Belichick — well, the first time. But it’s now sexy, something the media loves to write about, and it’s here — for 2009, at least.

But when do we feel comfortable enough to say that when teams line up in the wildcat it’s a dead play? First, we need to realize that there are two separate ways an offense can attack with the wildcat.

One way is taking a player like Chicago’s Devin Hester, a pure athlete who doesn’t force the threat of the pass. What we’re seeing here is the basic spread option from the college game, and as a defense, you can attack it differently.

The second is to take a player such as Miami’s Pat White, who can run and pass, bringing more threat to a defense. With White, a defense now has to play not only the spread option but also the entire passing tree from this formation.

Two different attacks, and hopefully, two different solutions.

How do we stop it?

APExpect to see Hester in Chicago's version of the Wildcat this season.

I reached out to some people in the league this morning with the wildcat on my mind, because gimmick offenses bother me as an ex-defensive back. But gimmick or not, until you stop an offense — regardless of the scheme — they will continue to run it.

I talked to one NFC defensive coach who said the best way to stop the wildcat when a player like Hester is lined up behind center is to bring pressure — force the offense to throw the ball when you have a “non-thrower” handling it. The same goes for a player who’s in there to throw the football -- play coverage and force him to run. The teams that have a hard time are playing with seven-man fronts and rush up the field — without any discipline. Who has the dive? Who has the pitch? And who has the QB in the option attack?

However, we always come back to a player like White, which is why this offense is so successful at the college level — because spread-option quarterbacks in college are athletes and not drop-back passers that the NFL looks for in the top 10 of the draft.

One AFC defensive back told me that it’s all about playing solid technique up front. He credits that discipline to teams such as the Baltimore Ravens, saying you can’t “swap out one for one,” meaning each player has a responsibility to play against the option, and giving up one player for one blocker usually leads to a big play.

And I agree with him. Just turn on a tape of the Ravens and it’s obvious they play with discipline against the wildcat.

But are their other ways, other options and other schemes? I talked to a former NFL safety with lots of experience in the league and in college coaching who talked about a different avenue that’s used in the college game.

APWhite ran the Spread Option at West Virginia.

According to him, most teams play a version of Cover 4 (quarters) and walk their safeties up to 6-8 yards, becoming a nine-man front and allowing you to play 11-on-11 football. Safeties can play the option from a flatfoot read and play the pass based off their run-pass keys at the line of scrimmage.

But it always comes back to personnel, as explained to me by a former NFL GM, who said that the players who run the wildcat are the keys. A versatile player like White allows this offense to expand and actually allows it to become more than just a gimmick we see on Saturdays in the fall.

Look, I’m fully convinced that until someone stops this offense cold one series after another, it will continue to be used. But as effective as it can be, it always takes the ball out of the hands of your starting quarterback at the NFL level.

Those guys get paid millions to throw touchdowns and run their offenses — not to sit out near the sidelines and run fake routes.

However, I can talk all I want because I don’t have to stop it — just write about it.