Several months ago, an NFL head coach was sitting in a film room with his staff, fine-tuning his team’s defensive package against the Wildcat. The video department had spliced together every snap the Miami Dolphins ran out of the formation in 2008, and the compilation was deep into their mind-boggling 38-13 win over the New England Patriots. As the screen flickered with images of Ronnie Brown’s(notes) fourth touchdown run, one of the coaches pointed at a Patriots player.
“Look at [Vince] Wilfork,” he said, spotlighting the New England nose tackle. “He’s playing like {expletive].”
On this particular play, Wilfork hadn’t gotten leverage after the snap, ending up stonewalled by former Dolphins center Samson Satele(notes). One of the coaches theorized that had Wilfork pushed the center back even half a yard, it would have disrupted left guard Justin Smiley(notes). Instead, the coaches watched in disgust as Smiley swooped down the line unobstructed, whisking through a battleship-sized hole and leveling New England safety Brandon Meriweather(notes). Just like that, Smiley had transformed a likely five-yard gain into a 62-yard touchdown by Ronnie Brown.
