By Matt Valentine
Usually reserved for games played on Fridays or Saturdays the wildcat formation has found a home on Sundays.
The wildcat formation a formation popular among high school football coaches and some college coaches (or at least a variation thereof) has found its way to the Miami Dolphins playbook.
Dolphins RB Ronnie Brown taking a direct snap in the Wildcat formation
For those of us who enjoy watching football, but dont get too deep into the technical side of the sport here’s a very brief explanation of the Wildcat formation. The Wildcat is a variant of the single-wing formation which was founded by legendary coach Pop Warner in 1907. Basically, in the wildcat formation you have a running back that lines up in a simliar position to a quarterback in shotgun formation. This back will take a direct snap from the center while another back is sent in motion from a slot position just prior to the snap. Furthermore, it calls for an unbalanced, reshuffled line, often with two natural tackles playing on the weak side
The quarterback doesn’t even need to be on the field or can line up as a wideout in this formation. The formation is primiarly a run offense, but can be used to draw defenders in while a TE or WR sneaks out where he can receive a pass from the back.
Now the defense is left with a number of possible options: A. the back can take the direct snap and run the ball, B. the back can take the direct snap and hand off to the other back that is set in motion, or C. the back can take the direct snap roll out and look for a passing option downfield.
So, this leads us to Week 3 in the NFL the Miami Dolphins square off against the New England Patriots. The Dolphins lined up in the wildcat formation a number of times and guess what….it resulted in five touchdowns all accounted for by Dolphins RB Ronnie Brown, 4 TD’s on the ground and one through the air, when Brown connected with TE Anthony Fasano for a 19 yard TD strike. For once Bill Bellicheck and his famed genius was nowhere to be found. His defense looked lost every single time the Dolphins lined up in the wildcat and it resulted in 38-13 blowout. In total the wildcat formation was employed six times during the Dolphins, Patriots game…I’d day the results speak for themselves.
Ronnie Brown is the key to the wildcat formation success in Miami.
The Dolphins would employ the wildcat again in their week 5 match-up against the San Diego Chargers. And while the wildcat would have a limited success this time around (47 net yards gained), it still resulted in a key touchdown that would give the Dolphins the lead and an eventual victory.
The Dolphins head coach Tony Sporano who is in his first year with the team, has stated that the Dolphins are just scratching the surface of how the wildcat can be employed this season. So far, the wildcat has helped lead a team that was 1-15 last year to a 2-2 record this season, with wins over some of the AFC’s best teams.
Now the question becomes will the wildcat catch on elsewhere in the NFL? The Patriots used the formation in their game against the 49ers, and the Dolphins have no plans to stop using the formation, at least until it stops working. Like the spread offense that is sweeping college football and lighting up scoreboards, the wildcat may soon have NFL defensive coordinators scratching their heads and NFL offensive coordinators salivating at the mouth.
U.S.A Captures 4×100 Meter Relay Gold in Dramatic Fashion
Aug 11
Posted by admin in 2008 Olympics, Gold Medal, Michael Phelps, Pro Sports, Sports, Sports Events, Sports Stars, Uncategorized, fresstyle, online sports community, relay, relays, swimming | No Comments
It’s being touted as the greatest relay race in Olympic history and if you stayed up late enough to watch there is no doubt that you would feel the same way.
It was the exact type of event that makes the Olympics so compelling to watch. There was drama, there was thrash talking, and eventually there was a Gold medal.
The drama in this instance was three fold. First, there was the French telling all who would listen that thy would “smash” the Americans in their upcoming relay heat and capture the Gold. Then there was Michael Phelps, whose quest for 8 Olympic Gold’s could have been halted before it ever even got off the ground. Lastly, there was the drama of the event itself and a finish that will go down as one of the greatest of all time in Olympic swimming competition.
Take these other factors as well, not only was the World Record broken by an astonishing 4 seconds by the Americans, but it was broken by five teams total….a time that just four years ago would have insured Olympic Gold wouldn’t even have gotten you on the medal stand last night.
The drama came to a thundering conclusion in the epic final 100 meters. With American Jason Lezak- the anchor on America’s disappointing 2000 and 2004 4×100 meter4 freestyle relay teams facing off against France’s Alain Bernard, the world-record holder in the 100-meter freestyle going into the event, and the very man who had boasted of the inevitability of a French victory. Perhaps in a moment of foreshadowing Bernard had actually lost his world-record to Australia’s Eamon Sullivan just moments earlier when he opened the relay with a 47.24 leg capturing the world record.
Phelps lead off the first leg for the Americans and established an excellent pace. Weber-Gale followed and the Americans came away from his leg with the lead. Cullen Jones was the next man in the pool for the Americans and as predicted swam the slowest leg, relinquishing the American lead and giving France a six-tenths of a second advantage entering the final leg. By the time Lezak got into the pool and made his final turn that gap had grown to .82 seconds, and the Americans were declared dead by NBC commentator Rowdy Gaines. Yet, thankfully no one told that to Jason Lezak who pulled off the fastest 100-meter split in the history of the games: 46.06 second catching Bernard in the final meters and beating him to the wall, erasing every bad memory from Olympic relays past and sealing the first Gold medal for the United States in the event since 1996.
Lezak trying to surpass French swimmer Bernard
Until 2000, the U.S. had never lost a 4×100 meter freestyle. Then came the Sydney Games, when another man, Gary Hall Jr. of Australia, made a bold proclamation saying of his Australian team, “We’ll smash them like guitars.” Hall and the Australians stayed true to their word beating the Americans by .19 seconds, mockingly playing air guitars atop the medal stand while waiting for the medals to be handed out.
Then came 2004, the lowest point for the American relay team. Not only did they not capture the gold, but finished behind both South Africa and Netherlands taking home a disappointing bronze medal.
Lezak was the anchor on both teams and turned in what many classified as sub par performances. Well, redemption thy name is gold and the U.S. has one man to thank.
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