The Wildcat formation was introduced to the NFL last season by the Miami Dolphins, but this season, there might not be a game that goes by without it. The play has been remarkably successful and defensive coordinators have been losing sleep over it. In the formation, the running back lines up as the quarterback, and the quarterback lines up as a wide receiver. The animated graphic from the AP demonstrates what the play looks like as a hand off, pass, or run.
But what does the Wildcat formation offer over a traditional formation? Wikipedia explains:
The virtue of having a running back take the snap in the Wildcat formation is that the rushing play is 11-on-11 (although different variations have the running back hand off or throw the football). In a standard football formation, when the quarterback stands watching, the offense operates 10-on-11 basis. The motion also presents the defense with an immediate threat to the outside that it must respect no matter what the offense decides to do with the football.
Yahoo! Sports has their own animated graphics of the Wildcat, along with a description of how defensive coordinators hope to defend it.
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A few thoughts:
Why keep the quarterback in the formation and not put an extra wide receiver or tight end in his place? I understand it keeps the defense off balance when the offense starts in a traditional formation and switches to Wildcat, but the Wildcat formation has been effective even when defenses are expecting it, so why not add more power to the play by adding a better receiver/blocker?
It is bizarre to me how one formation can have such influence on a game that has been played for 140 years. What took it so long?
If the formation is so effective, why is it only used a couple times a game? Why don't we see offenses built around the formation?
