Defending the Wildcat breakdowns

[jays52]

First, allow me to preface this by saying this is a post where I talk about actual football. Not trading Captain Awesome for half of the EU, not hypothetical situations, not horrible parody threads posted with offensive excess. No, this is football.

Sorry. I needed to get that off my chest. Ok, so in front of me is my DVR of the game, it's not game tape, but it's the best I got. I'm going to try to do a breakdown of the offensive play first, then describe what the pat's did and how/why it was effective/ineffective. Ok, let's dig in. One last note: please forgive my horrible drawings. I'm on my backup laptop and only can do this with Microsoft Paint.

1st and 10 6:43 inside Patriots 30. 6:40 in the 1st.

Heavy wing formation. Twin tight ends, Pennington farthest out on the farside, Williams the farside wingback, Brown under center. Williams comes in motion towards the nearside, snap to brown, handoff to williams who slips. Play would have been snubbed anyways. Some pretty complicated blocking going on here as well. It would probably just be easier for me to diagram this up. So, here is the basic assignments from the first play. They left Bruschi unblocked. Don't know if it was mental, but the diagram is the executed play.

Regarding the playside tackle doing a pseudo-pull in the diagram. It was a kickout, but the tackle took a full bucket step to allow Vrabel upfield. He then tried the execute the kickout and got nowhere. Interesting design though.

The way it was defended was as anticipated. Wilfork simply dominated Satelle all game, and this play was no different. Hands in his pads, full extention perfect technique. Seymour initially crashed the b gap, then scraped down the line. Warren extended the tight end, Vrabel blew up the kick-out block from the tackle. Had Williams not slipped, the play would have been turned in and Bruschi was attacking the C gap quickly enough to meet Williams at the LOS

Play #2: 2nd and 13 from inside Patriots 30. 5:56 in 1st.

This is the same play as the previous one, with the Brown keeping the direct snap and following his pulling guards. Playside tight end downblocks and seals Mayo, playside tackle posts on Seymour, playside guard kicks out and pancakes Pierre Woods. Center gets slapped by Wilfork. Backside guard attempts to find the backside linebacker, lands a glancing blow at Bruschi, slowing him down just enough to allow a greater gain.

Seymour was sealed by Long. Woods was knocked down, but recovered fast enough to be a nuisance to the play. Had Woods remained stout in this situation, the play would have been turned inside. Mayo was also sealed by the cracking tight end. This play had a very counter-trey feel to it. Hobbs came in to fill, couldn't make the tackle. James Sanders was in the backfield on the backside, clearly faked badly by the exchange.


Play #3: 3rd and 2 from inside the Dolphin 30. 14:09 in the 2nd. "Seymour is over the hill"

Williams comes in motion, Brown takes direct snap and tries to hit the 3 or 5 hole. The playside guard doubles Wilfork with the center and Long attempts to block Seymour 1 on 1. Terrible mistake. By the time Brown has planted his foot, Seymour has driven Long a yard into the backfield. Wilfork has also driven the doubleteam back a yard. Seymour recognizes the play is going to the 3 hole and drives long into Wilfork to stop the play for a slight loss.

These three are all I have right now. Need to get some rest, but I will try to get the rest of the wildcat attempts up by tomorrow night this time.

 

[maseehpat]

Really nice stuff. Thanks for sharing

 

[ALP]

thank you very much...we really need these types of threads w/ waht has been goin on around here lately

 

[Deus Irae]

thank you very much...we really need these types of threads w/ waht has been goin on around here lately

Seconded...

 

[BritPat]

Terrific work fella, much appreciated from this poster

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Thank you very much, its great to actually see analysis. Well done!!!

 

[PJM]

Really interesting. I wonder was the difference this game due to tactics or did the players (esp. Wilfork) just execute better?

 

[satz]

Excellent work as i mentioned in wildcat you 1 extra player on the offence and 1 extra gap. if you create choas at LOS and RB is confused it all done.

 

[JSn]

Awesome post. I'm going to DVR the replay tonight and watch for this stuff. I have a feeling some of the burning itch of our secondary had to do with safety's watching for those trick plays. We won't see that kind of stuff next week, so our pass D will probably look better.

These intricate breakdowns also remind just how good our front three really are.

I noticed Redd played OLB for the last seven snaps. Have you had a chance to see how he did?

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

terriffic job, and ditto on the need for more threads like this.

It seemed to me that the advantage of the wildcat (potentially a blocker for every defender) was usually blown up by Wilfork demanding a double team and often beating the double team.

It was different than I expected- I was thinking a pursuit- based gap control using the speed of Guyton, Mayo, and Meriweather would be the key, but it was more the brute force of Wilfork, with also Seymour and Vrable also overpowering their blockers to penetrate, close gaps, and make Ronnie Brown have to make his first cut behind the line of scrimmage.

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

The entire front "six" rotation of Sey, Vince, Ty, Jarvis, Wright, and LeKevin played well in the trenches and made Miami earn every inch of the run game the hard way. Factor in that Vrabes, Pierre, Bru, Mayo, and Guyton, with some help from the secondary also played the run well and you have some positives to take away for the D.

Great job on the breakdowns, lot's of hard work trying to figure things out from TV broadcasts! :rocker:

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Bravo. Braaaaaaavo!

Regards,
Chris

 

[AzPatsFan]

Let me thnk you for a great post. Amid the hsot of chicken littles, moaning about soem Armegeddon that only they see, it is nice to discuss some real football.

The single wing as a formation was used in both collegiate and pro football for several decades. I think the last Team to actually base and entire Offense on it was the Pittsburg Steelers in the the Fifties.

I congratulate the Miami coaches for recognizing that today's players and even some coaches would not be familiar with the concepts of the single wing, now renamed the Wildcat, and use it to steal a win in a game that they ought to have lost.

The single wing was eventually eclipsed as an Offense because it had deficiencies in the passing game. But as a running Offense it provides an additional blocker, and perhaps a second if the QB is a combo runner/passer. The Miami Team surprised the Patriots and sprung it on them in the third game odf the season. It was obvious that neither the players nor the Coaches could decide how to handle all of the "looks" that were revealed, that day. Miami was even successful with it against other clubs like San Diego, but after the novelty wears off, and the players are coached up on how to respond and attack it, its effectiveness wears off, as it is doing.

Miami got little from it the second time they played the Patriots. I supect it will disapear again into the football histories like the "Box and Four" and other formations that outlived their time.

 

[Krugman]

Nicely done,sir.Thanks.

 

[Batman]

Let me thnk you for a great post. Amid the hsot of chicken littles, moaning about soem Armegeddon that only they see, it is nice to discuss some real football.

The single wing as a formation was used in both collegiate and pro football for several decades. I think the last Team to actually base and entire Offense on it was the Pittsburg Steelers in the the Fifties.

I congratulate the Miami coaches for recognizing that today's players and even some coaches would not be familiar with the concepts of the single wing, now renamed the Wildcat, and use it to steal a win in a game that they ought to have lost.

The single wing was eventually eclipsed as an Offense because it had deficiencies in the passing game. But as a running Offense it provides an additional blocker, and perhaps a second if the QB is a combo runner/passer. The Miami Team surprised the Patriots and sprung it on them in the third game odf the season. It was obvious that neither the players nor the Coaches could decide how to handle all of the "looks" that were revealed, that day. Miami was even successful with it against other clubs like San Diego, but after the novelty wears off, and the players are coached up on how to respond and attack it, its effectiveness wears off, as it is doing.

Miami got little from it the second time they played the Patriots. I supect it will disapear again into the football histories like the "Box and Four" and other formations that outlived their time.

I don't think the wildcat is as limited as traditional single wing. I believe it is far more advanced as it does not neglect the pass as much as normal single wing. However it is a run first and mainly uses trickery overpowering the line and getting a safety to the motion guy and a safety to the spy the guy who takes the snap as long as you cover all 6 guys who could get the ball you can beat single wing. As long as we don't see double wing make a comeback then I am happy with wildcat being used it can be like any other formation with the right QB/HB someone like Mike vick(if he comes back) Vince Young or Tim Tebow.

 

[unoriginal]

Heavy wing formation. Twin tight ends, Pennington farthest out on the farside, Williams the farside wingback, Brown under center. Williams comes in motion towards the nearside, snap to brown, handoff to williams who slips. Play would have been snubbed anyways. Some pretty complicated blocking going on here as well. It would probably just be easier for me to diagram this up. So, here is the basic assignments from the first play. They left Bruschi unblocked. Don't know if it was mental, but the diagram is the executed play.

The answer to why they left Bruschi unblocked is right in front of you. Both guards pull left: for a linebacker, that is a strong primary read that the run is going outside to the defense's right. A less-disciplined linebacker would have taken himself out of the play by following the pulling action, and this is exactly what Bruschi and Mayo did the first time Miami played New England.

This weak play is designed to give Ricky Williams fast width on the Stud, so he can "run the circle" and up the sideline. Thus why Sanders was filling so aggressively on this play and the next. He sees motion from the backside wingback (Williams) and he has to move up to cut off Williams' angle. If Miami executes their scrimmage blocks, Bruschi takes two false steps left, and Sanders isn't pressing the LOS, Williams is racing Meriweather and the backside corner to the end zone.