In the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated, Dr. Z's pick of the week happens to be the Dolphins/Texans game. But more importantly, Dr. Z got to ask a "defensive coach who later faces Miami" how to defend the now famous 'Wildcat' formation that the Dolphins run about a quarter or so of the time.
Here's what that defensive coach said:
"Seal off the edges and don't let him bounce outside. Put a man over the center and go at him hard. The center has to have his head down for the long snap; make it as uncomfortable for him as possible. Put a man over each guard, and present a very firm front inside. Move your outside linebackers up close, and tell them not to let anything outside them."
"I'm even toying with lining up in an old-fashioned 6-2."
Now that's an interesting idea being presented by one of Miami's future opponents. But I still think this style of defense leaves them vulnerable. First off, I still believe that, if the offense - especially the lineman - execute perfectly, Ronnie Brown can still pick up positive yardage. It almost reminds me of the Packers' old "power sweep" offense. When executed 100% perfectly, it cannot be stopped - at least not for no gain or even for a loss of yardage.
More importantly, this makes the defense insanely vulnerable to the pass. We know Ronnie can pass if asked to. This past week, we even saw Ricky Williams take a hand-off from Brown and look to pass. And of course, there's always the possibility of Brown passing behind the line of scrimmage to Chad Pennington, who is lined up as a receiver, and then Pennington making a throw down the field.
Regardless, this is interesting because it shows that teams who play the Dolphins later on in the season are already taking some time to think about how to defend Miami's variation of the single-wing offense - an offense that has been around since 1906.
So what do you think? Is this unidentified defensive coach's idea the way to defend the 'Wildcat'?