Call of the 'Wild'

Reiss diagrams Wildcat and why it works
(Boston Globe) The Globe's Mike Reiss shows us the X's and O'S of the Wildcat package and why the Dolphins experienced so much success with it vs. the Patriots. (By Chris Forsberg, Boston.com)
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By Jim McCabe
Globe Staff / November 23, 2008

Alongside teammates, Man-Afraid-of-a-Bear would stand beneath his leather helmet on those fall Saturdays, staring into the eyes of his opposition. Whether or not his Native American name spoke to a truism about his persona was never determined, but this much can be believed about the man whom school officials called Samuel McLean: He had no fear of an unconventional form of offensive football.

That's because in Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner the young men from Pennsylvania's Carlisle Indian Industrial School trusted.

As for Pop? Well, this new rule they had come up with the previous year - the one that made it OK to actually throw the football forward - wasn't exactly the game he had played, but he would adjust. Thus, as he gathered his players for the 1907 season, the coach tried to explain the nuances of the forward pass.

"It may be basketball," Warner told them, "but it's in the rules, so let's try it."

The Indians did just that, settling into an offensive formation that confounded foes and tickled fans. The center wasn't really in the middle - two line men were to his left, four to his right - and the quarterback was lined up behind the tackle. What's more, the ball would be snapped to a tailback, or a fullback, and then there was that guy set out to the right, the one they called a wingback, who might come back and get a handoff or maybe he'd catch a pass.

No one had ever seen anything quite like it.

"These spectacular new-fangled plays," is how a New York Times correspondent described the Indians and their single-wing exploits in a 26-6 thrashing of Penn that stretched their record to 6-0. Two weeks later in Cambridge, Carlisle stunned Harvard, then followed up with a win at Minnesota. With quarterback Frank Mount Pleasant handing off to Jim Thorpe, the Indians dazzled Amos Alonzo Stagg's University of Chicago, 18-4, to close out a 9-1 campaign.

Thanks in large part to Warner, football had changed forever.

"The game today," Warner told a meeting of NCAA football coaches in 1911, "is much better than the old game."

And the game today in Miami, between the Patriots and Dolphins? If the 137-year-old icon were alive, Pop might just smile at some Dolphins plays with unbalanced lines and direct snaps and offer: "With so much change in the world, it's nice to see that some things have remained the same."

Nice to see you again
When the Dolphins visited the Patriots Sept. 21, it was stunning enough that they hung up a 38-13 victory. It was downright stupefying as to how they went about it. Running back Ronnie Brown scored on three runs and threw for another touchdown off direct snaps while quarterback Chad Pennington wandered aimlessly. A press box attendee or two may have been tempted to write about "spectacular new-fangled plays."

The only thing is, on closer examination, they weren't so new. The Dolphins had merely reinvented the wheel with their so-called "Wildcat" offense, bringing back elements of Warner's famed single wing.

Immediately, a buzz swept the football landscape, but there was a clear distinction among intrigued fans. The ESPN generation thought it was cool to run plays that had never been run before, while a good many others knew better and felt as if they had stumbled into a college sweetheart who still was radiant.

"The first thing I asked when I heard they ran those plays was, 'What did they do with the quarterback?' " asked Princeton legend Dick Kazmaier, who more than 50 years ago was to the single wing offense what Frank Sinatra was to crooning. "I guess they put him at flanker to keep him out of the play."

OK, that part was a bit of a letdown, because in the true single wing, the quarterback was hard-nosed and frothing for action. But no matter that Pennington went wide with instructions to stay out of the way; Kazmaier was tickled to hear that remnants of a formation that cemented his legend had been brought back.

He wasn't alone, either, because throughout the football world people felt an attachment to what Miami had done. Houston Nutt celebrated down in Mississippi. Gus Malzahn offered a toast in Tulsa. And a onetime Division 3 assistant coach out in Ohio was treated to an unexpected reminder of a dear friend.

Jack Hire served as an assistant coach for Keith Piper, whose distinguished coaching career at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, stretched from 1954-92. While Piper's career included an impressive 200 wins, he won fame for employing the single wing throughout the '60s, '70s, '80s and into the '90s.

"Of course, me and the assistant coaches would get out the single-wing film and laugh at it," said Hire, who played at Denison for Piper and remains director of university communications. "But we would have to stop laughing so often, because we realized these kids were so young, they didn't know it was an old-fashioned offense; they thought it was new. Coach Piper used to say, 'As long as they don't ask their grandfathers, I'm OK.' "

Pulling the switch
Their grandfathers may have told them about the great Kazmaier, who in 1951 closed out a brilliant Princeton career by winning the Heisman Trophy. His teams had gone undefeated his junior and senior campaigns.

By 1962, however, the single wing had gone the way of the leather helmet, except at Denison.

"There was a really good tailback at Ohio State who didn't want to play behind Paul Warfield," said Hire. "Coach Piper said, 'If we get Tony Hall, I'm switching to the single wing.' "

The only thing is, on closer examination, they weren't so new. The Dolphins had merely reinvented the wheel with their so-called "Wildcat" offense, bringing back elements of Warner's famed single wing.

Immediately, a buzz swept the football landscape, but there was a clear distinction among intrigued fans. The ESPN generation thought it was cool to run plays that had never been run before, while a good many others knew better and felt as if they had stumbled into a college sweetheart who still was radiant.

"The first thing I asked when I heard they ran those plays was, 'What did they do with the quarterback?' " asked Princeton legend Dick Kazmaier, who more than 50 years ago was to the single wing offense what Frank Sinatra was to crooning. "I guess they put him at flanker to keep him out of the play."

OK, that part was a bit of a letdown, because in the true single wing, the quarterback was hard-nosed and frothing for action. But no matter that Pennington went wide with instructions to stay out of the way; Kazmaier was tickled to hear that remnants of a formation that cemented his legend had been brought back.

He wasn't alone, either, because throughout the football world people felt an attachment to what Miami had done. Houston Nutt celebrated down in Mississippi. Gus Malzahn offered a toast in Tulsa. And a onetime Division 3 assistant coach out in Ohio was treated to an unexpected reminder of a dear friend.

Jack Hire served as an assistant coach for Keith Piper, whose distinguished coaching career at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, stretched from 1954-92. While Piper's career included an impressive 200 wins, he won fame for employing the single wing throughout the '60s, '70s, '80s and into the '90s.

"Of course, me and the assistant coaches would get out the single-wing film and laugh at it," said Hire, who played at Denison for Piper and remains director of university communications. "But we would have to stop laughing so often, because we realized these kids were so young, they didn't know it was an old-fashioned offense; they thought it was new. Coach Piper used to say, 'As long as they don't ask their grandfathers, I'm OK.' "

Pulling the switch
Their grandfathers may have told them about the great Kazmaier, who in 1951 closed out a brilliant Princeton career by winning the Heisman Trophy. His teams had gone undefeated his junior and senior campaigns.

By 1962, however, the single wing had gone the way of the leather helmet, except at Denison.

"There was a really good tailback at Ohio State who didn't want to play behind Paul Warfield," said Hire. "Coach Piper said, 'If we get Tony Hall, I'm switching to the single wing.' "

Hall transferred to Denison, and Piper, nine years into his coaching career, switched. It wasn't easy, said Hire, because very few of the players had ever been in that offense and many of the coaches hadn't, either.

Piper's fascination with it had stemmed from his boyhood days in Niles, Ohio, where the nearby football power was Massillon High School, coached by Paul Brown, a single-wing devotee. Hire said that what Piper loved about the single wing was what Brown loved and what Warner loved before all of them - intricate blocking schemes and talented backs who could fake and give the appearance of having the ball to always keep defenses guessing.

"There are intrinsic advantages to being different," said Hire. "Keith's thing was to riddle the defense, to break the rules."

Hog wild over it
Amazing this fascination we have with attaching the word "genius" to men who draw up football plays when at the very core of the exercise is a premise that even grade-school touch-footballers understand.

"It all starts with finding ways to get the ball in your best players' hands in the quickest amount of time," said Malzahn, who is right there in a connect-the-dots exercise that explains how the Wildcat offense landed in Miami.

A former coach at Springdale (Ark.) High School, Malzahn earned a reputation as a sort of offensive guru, a guy who favored a style of play that prompted him to write a book, "The Hurry-Up No-Huddle: An Offensive Philosophy."

The book helps explain why Malzahn was hired as Nutt's offensive coordinator at Arkansas in 2006. He incorporated into the playbook direct snaps and unbalanced lines - but in no way does he want the word "invent" mentioned in the same sentence with his name.

"We had Darren McFadden [now with the Raiders] and Felix Jones [with Dallas, though injured] and when you have talents like that, you come up with ways to have them in the game at the same time," said Malzahn, who moved to Tulsa in 2007 and was replaced as offensive coordinator by David Lee, a former Vanderbilt quarterback who had been an Arkansas assistant years earlier.

Lee, like Malzahn, wanted to exploit the talents of McFadden and Jones, so he maintained the Wildcat offense - though, for the sake of accuracy, understand that this was Arkansas.

"It was the 'Wild Hog' offense,' " said Nutt, laughing.

But, make no mistake, there's a clear line of distinction between the Wildcat and the single wing.

"Single-wing folks wouldn't recognize the Wildcat as their offense, but they'd recognize elements of it," said Hire.

To Kazmaier, the difference rests with the level of commitment. "We ran a single-wing offense, all game, every game," he said, whereas the Wildcat is a formation thrown in a few times a game to change the pace and give teams different looks.

The Fish get hooked
So intrigued is the football audience by this unconventional offense that a two-minute clip of Lee explaining the intricacies of the Arkansas Wild Hog offense has landed on YouTube, and folks are even digging into the Sports Illustrated vault to reread a superb 1982 article by Rick Telander on Piper and Denison's out-of-vogue but highly entertaining offense. All of it hits on an aspect of the story that coaches unanimously agree is at the heart of the matter.

"The fun factor, it's a key element," said Nutt, who is now at Mississippi. "It creates enthusiasm. Players start believing in it and when it produces big plays, they really start having fun with it."

Nutt had intended to remain connected to Lee, but something happened on the way to Oxford. Lee, who had spent 2003-06 on the Cowboys' staff, got calls from his former bosses in Dallas who were now working with the Dolphins - Bill Parcells as executive vice president, Tony Sparano as coach. The story goes that Lee introduced a few of old Wild Hog plays during preseason practices.

"He told me he was trying to talk [offensive coordinator] Dan Henning into a few of the plays," said Nutt. "David really believes in it."

Apparently, it took two lackluster weeks of offense to strengthen Lee's case. In losing to the Jets and Cardinals to start the season, the Dolphins gained just 513 yards, 121 of them coming off of 41 rushes, a dismal 2.95-yard average. Coming off a 1-15 campaign, the Dolphins needed some answers, so Henning figured what the heck. He gave Lee's Wildcat offense the green light for Week 3 in New England.

Miami ran six plays out of the Wildcat that day, four of them resulting in touchdowns. In all, the plays accounted for 119 yards, and while it remains the team's most productive game with the quirky formation, there have been other highlights:

In a 21-19 win over Seattle, Ricky Williams had a 51-yard touchdown run on a direct snap and Brown scampered 16 yards for another score.

Eleven Wildcat plays totaled 49 yards and a touchdown in a win over San Diego.

In a loss to Houston, the Dolphins scored on a 53-yard flea-flicker.

Not everyone is a fan
Coincidence or not, the Dolphins have won six of eight games since they adopted the Wildcat, although no one would dispute the fact that it has been held in check at times. Against Baltimore, the Dolphins ran five Wildcat plays for a mere 4 yards, and against Denver the numbers were more stifling - five plays for minus-4 yards.

Such snippets have opened the door for critics. Former All-Pro Warren Sapp mouthed off, calling the Wildcat disrespectful (though, truth be told, has anyone from Abkhazia to Zimbabwe ever cared what Warren Sapp thinks?). San Diego defensive back Quentin Jammer is a more credible source, given that he saw the Wildcat offense for 11 plays the week after it was put into motion against New England.

"Gimmicky," said Jammer. "As long as you play your responsibilities, you're going to be fine."

The Ravens' Ray Lewis was equally unimpressed.

"It's still football," he huffed. "There's one football on the field; there's only one person who's going to touch the football. All we've got to do is find the football. That's the bottom line."

Points well taken, but there's a longer line of advocates coming into the fold, and plentiful are the NFL teams who've run plays out of the formation, including the Raiders with McFadden and the Chiefs with Larry Johnson.

Chicago's offensive coordinator, Ron Turner, acknowledged that he had similar plays drawn up for the preseason but was reluctant to put them into play for vanity reasons.

"I just wish we had done it before, because now people will say we're copying," said Turner.

Ah, coach, don't fret, because ol' Pop did not secure a copyright more than a hundred years ago. Instead, he left it right there for all to share.

If they dare.