Miami Dolphins use the Wild Cat because they are not creative on offense
By Brian Miller
The Miami Dolphins lack creativity on offense and as a result, they turn to the Wild Cat formation with the hopes of being, well, creative.
In 2008 the Wild Cat led the Miami Dolphins to the playoffs with Ronnie Brown and Chad Pennington. That WC formation died a quick death against the Ravens in the post season. In 2009, the Dolphins tried to continue that success even going so far as to draft Pat White with the hopes of running it. It didn’t work. In this NFL, now, it rarely works but that doesn’t keep Miami from trying.
On Sunday against the Jets, the Dolphins were able to drive the field and get into Jets territory but once there, they split Tua Tagovailoa outside and left Myles Gaskin behind center. Needless to say, the plays didn’t work. On one drive, the Dolphins tried unsuccessfully to get into the end zone and when the finally stopped using the formation, Tua threw a touchdown pass on the next play.
The lack of creativity in this offense is clear and nothing is surprising, including the outdated Wild Cat formation. If the Dolphins are going to insist on using it, they should use it on first or second down around mid-field instead of killing drives in the red zone.
The 2nd touchdown drive was incredibly ugly once it got into the red zone.
The drive opened at Miami’s own 25 yard line. Tua completed passes of 15, 8, 18, 8, 7, and 6 yards along with traditional runs of 6 and 4 yards. Two others netted minus yards. On first and 10 from the Jets 11 Tagovailoa completed a six yard pass to the Jets five. Then the Dolphins OCs got cute, again.
2nd and 4 Wild Cat snap to Gaskin for no gain. Tua throws the next pass but it is incomplete although Jets were hit with a roughing the passer call. 1st and goal, direct snap to Gaskin, penalty moved back 5 yards. 1st and goal from the 7 another WC to Gaskin for two yards. The next play Miami got cute again with a lateral from Tua to Albert Wilson who threw an incomplete pass. That brought 3rd and goal and Miami went to a traditional offense and Tua hit Gaskin for the touchdown.
Miami needs to get rid of this play in their offense. It is nothing more at this point than a momentum killer. It shows that they have little faith in their offensive line to block, their QB to throw, and that they have no other creative outlets in the playbook that might actually work.