WILD, WILD NFL

WildCat. WildHog. WildThing.

Call it anything you want, but some form of the WildWhatever offense has stampeded onto a playing field near you.

This latest NFL trend is confusing the defenses and entertaining the masses. The unorthodox offensive scheme, referred to by most as the WildCat offense or formation, is somewhat of a rarity to catch with only 10 to 15 of these plays being called in a given week.

I don't know the exact position terminology and it would probably get confusing so I'm just going to breakdown this formation with simplicity. A skill player such as a running back or wide receiver lines up in shotgun formation. A second skill player player is positioned to that player's right or left. Once the ball is snapped to the player directly behind center he has three options. Run the ball, hand the ball off to his teammate or throw the ball.

You may have seen a version of this offense in college football called the spread offense. The same principles are applied here except that the quarterback is taken out of the backfield. On some occasions the quarterback is positioned as a wideout and in others he's watching from the sidelines.

The primary advantage of utilizing this formation is that instead of playing with 10 offensive players versus 11 defensive players when the quarterback is on the field, the offense can operate on an even level with 11 on 11 in personnel terms. The element of surprise is also an edge as the defense has to be on its toes when this formation is presented.

The Miami Dolphins unleashed this ground-borne virus that is spreading throughout the league against New England in Week 3 of the season. They absolutely ran all over the Pats, combining backs Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams to create 216 yards of offense and parlaying that success into a 38-13 victory. In Week 5 they made mincemeat of the San Diego Chargers, shredding them for 167 yards on 12 WildCat carries.

Bill Parcell's freshest Frankenstein is logging the most attempts of the Wildcat offense. Miami is averaging about five per game since its introduction and it has proved to be prolific - yielding eight of their 23 offensive touchdowns. And they are showing no signs of slowing down the game plan either. The 'Phins ran it on eight instances last week versus Seattle and six times in Sunday's defensive bout against Oakland.

Speaking of the Raiders, even with their porous offense they are able to get in on the fun and roll out the WildCat offense. After all, super-talented back Darren McFadden is no stranger to the atypical run game having executed a version of it when playing at Arkansas under head coach Houston Nutt. He and current Dallas Cowboys player Felix Jones used to make opposing defenses look clueless as they racked up hundreds of yards on the ground.

The Arkansas Razorbacks called it the WildHog in honor of their mascot. Nutt has since moved on to Ole Miss where they run a variation of the offense and have given it the moniker WildRebel.

The naming origins of this unique offensive explosion have been interesting to say the least. It is rumored that the Dolphins' labeling of the formation came from the Wildcats of West Genesee High School where Miami assistant coach Steve Bush once worked.

Last Monday against the 49ers Anquan Boldin became the first wide receiver to take a direct snap. Ken Wisenhunt and the Arizona Cardinals call this the Pahokee formation which was Boldin's hometown and high school in Florida.

Tonight we may see the Cleveland Browns bust out the Flash formation with Josh Cribbs taking the ball from center like he did last Thursday against the Broncos. Cribbs' alma mater is the Kent State Golden Flashes.

While the WildCat offense has been very productive, there have to be some problems with it or every team would use it, right? Maybe the availability and reliability of a skill player who can handle a snap and read a defense quickly poses a hindrance for some teams.

Or in the case of a wide receiver taking the snap, maybe some teams don't want their franchise player getting blown up by guys like Ray Lewis. I realize that Anquan Boldin is a big, physical receiver but he is not invincible. And what about the quarterback being used downfield as a blocker? You can bet defenses will be licking their chops to take a shot.

But there is no doubt teams are taking notice and are doing some experimenting. I don't have the luxury of the Elias Sports Bureau at my fingertips to check the stats but from my count a total of nine teams (Buccaneers, Jaguars, Falcons, Cardinals, Raiders, Dolphins, Jets, Browns, 49ers) have run some form of the WildCat offense.

It seems that better defenses will prevail against it, but will some mastermind come up with a way to completely shut down the WildCat offense?

I sure hope not. I hope it sticks around forever. It makes the running game more exciting and improves the overall entertainment of the game.

Scott Cooley offers his perspective as freelance writer and friend of 3Daily Winners.