In an article from the Sun-Sentinel, Pasqualoni and Sparano talk about why Wake is not in the game more:

Sparano points out that Wake had 10 snaps against the Patriots last week, and in those opportunities he only produced one positive play: the hit to quarterback Tom Brady that led to Crowder's game-sealing interception.

"Some of it's been really good; some of it has been uneventful," Sparano said of Wake's body of work. "You have to be able to handle the run. You have to be able to handle the tight ends. You got to be able to do those type of things, too."

If anyone out there has the game taped or on DVR, would you mind watching the 10 snaps that Wake is in on to tell us (or find a writer who would tell us) how Wake is doing against the run. I would feel better that he is being used correctly if I read that although he is dynamic against the pass, he looks lost/weak/overaggressive against the run, etc.

BTW my new arm-chair Defensive Coordinator idea is to do away with the Free Safety Gibril Wilson altogether and go to a 4-4 base defense (since Gibril Wilson is worthless anyway). Use Cameron Wake as a Rover/DE with his hand on the ground on either side. When Wake needs a rest, bring in Yeremiah Bell to play a Strong Safety type of Rover (who should blitz alot). Chris Clemons plays single safety deep. Otherwise, the 3-4 base defense is AS IS.

LDE Langford / Baker

NT Soliai / McDaniel

RDE Starks / Merling

Rover Cam Wake / Yeremiah Bell (when Wake gets tired)

LOLB Taylor / Moses

LILB Crowder / Torbor

RILB Ayodele /  Torbor

ROLB Porter / Anderson

LC Davis

RC Smith

S Clemons / Culver

You are gambling that Wake can get to the QB before the QB can make them pay for not having a second safety in coverage.

I'll take that gamble. Especially when that second safety is Gibril Wilson.

Thoughts?

by getting Cameron Wake ON the field and getting Gibril Wilson OFF the field.

What is keeping Wake off the field?

Some possible reasons:

He is more comfortable with his hand on the ground, inexperienced covering TEs (not like the other safeties and linebackers have been doing that great anyway), and maybe raw versus the run.

Is there a way to get Wake on the field playing to his strengths and hiding his weaknesses? What if the other team passes on first down? That's not a clear passing down, but if Wake gets a sack on first down, then all the other downs become passing downs and he gets more opportunities. Talk about a drive stopper.

My idea: Go to a 5-man Defensive line. The defense would play like it would in a Nickel set up only with a 5-man line instead of 4. The defense is basically a 5-1-5.

Take Bell and Wilson out and put Culver and Clemons at Safeties.

I put Jason Taylor/Quentin Moses at LOLB/DE and put him over the TE. If the TE switches sides, then Taylor/Moses switches with the TE and Wake/Anderson swaps to the other side. Therefore Wake stays out of pass coverage. I don't advocate Taylor/Moses always on the TE, since the TE could also be covered by one of the nickel linebackers or strong safety. The five man line (at least on paper) looks great if all five rush and should be able to hold up against the run even if Wake may be weaker/smaller in size (is Joey Porter that much better against the run anyway?)

You automatically lose pursuit to the edges, so I would advocate inserting Fast/Good Tackling Jason Allen as a nickel linebacker/rover and back him up with Erik Walden who is also a fast-athletic guy (as proven on special teams). There are teams that run their nickel 4-2-5 full time, so this is not completely revolutionary. It would be a challenge stopping the run with just the front 6, but the advantage is that you would be able to get Randy Starks (and the other D-Linemen) into more one-on-one isolation matchups and that's a plus for pass rush as well as tackles for losses in the run game. We have above average D-Linemen (including OLBs) and mediocre linebackers, so it makes sense to use more D-linemen and less linebackers if possible. Replacing Bell and Wilson with faster players Clemons and Culver should provide sufficient pursuit to the edges of the defense which is the main weakness of a 5-man D-Line. The intermediate pass coverage should improve with Jason Allen helping out in coverage on the TE or backs out of the backfield instead of Crowder or Ayodele.

Here's my lineup/assignments:

OLB-DE Taylor/Moses (following

DT-DE Langford/Baker

DT McDaniel/Soliai

DT-DE Starks/Merling

OLB-DE Wake/Anderson

LB - Torbor/Ayodele/Crowder

Rover LB - Jason Allen / Erik Walden / Ayodele

LC Davis/Jones

RC Smith/Oglesby

SS Culver

FS Clemons

Note: versus 3 wide receivers, Langford/Baker comes out and Nate Jones/ Evan Oglesby comes in to make it a 4-1-6.

We get more WAKE UP in our Defense. Get to actually use Jason Allen's (and Erik Walden's) more athletic/speed talents as an impact player-maker. Improve the pass rush and free Randy Starks to make more plays one-on-one.

Thoughts?

I for one don't need to see Ricky trying to throw from the formation. Is there no longer the right personnel or need to run tbe Wildcat with the emergence of Chad Henne?

The purpose of this post is to explore how Wildcat principles and it's misdirection and unbalanced power might be used to run effectively out of a spread formation with Henne as QB.

What if Nate Garner could be a decent Right Tackle? He played that position in college and worked at that position in his first year in the league before moving to left guard due to injury. We have seen that Vernon Carey has struggled with speed rushers from the right side and probably should be moved inside to guard eventually where he would be a huge (literally) asset in the run game. What if Nate Garner (6-7 325) who is already the backup right tackle, could handle the position full time (with pass protection help from the running back).

My idea for discussion is this: How about move Vernon Carey to Left Guard right now? The left side of the line would not only be extremely expensive, but it would dominate. Put Justin Smiley at Right Guard with relief for his sore shoulder from Donald Thomas. If you pulled Smiley/Thomas left, there would be some serious ownage on the left side of the line. Obviously, teams would load up on the Fins' left to stop this ownage and that's where the misdirection comes in.

Introducing the Return of the Ricky as Wildcat Spread Formation:

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ DB _ _ _ _ JL VC JB JS NG _ _ _ _ _ _GC _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

RW _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _PW

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ CH _ _LH

I would really like to see Kory Sheets in the Wildcat role with Ricky in the backfield taking the handoff over the left side, but the Trifecta must not like what they see in Sheets, or maybe they haven't contemplated this formation yet...

Pat White actually has a place in this formation, but if you don't want him on the field, just replace him with Brian Hartline.

You can run the Wildcat either left or right (Ricky motions right, PW/BH would motion left).

You get your power up the middle against a spread out defense with your back in the backfield who also helps Garner with pass protection on the right side.

If the defense loads up to stop the run, you can pass short to your speedsters (RW/PW/BH) and then let them run, or send your speedsters deep and have DB or GC settle down in the cleared out zone.

Note that after Wildcat motion, you have one receiver (either DB or GC) isolated on one side and the other side of the field flooded with three receivers.

It's not the Wildcat, but it would bring the excitement of the Wildcat misdirection into the spread formation and make running the ball a dangerous option versus just a handoff to a back from the shotgun.

Thoughts anyone?

We have a tough road ahead to win the AFC East and get into the playoffs.

The way to go may be to stick with a conventional, low-risk, no-trickeration offense and just pound the rock with Ricky and trusting Henne and the receivers (catch the ball!) to keep the defense from crowding the line of scrimmage. I would definitely try this route first, but what if our pass-blocking-challenged line is overwhelmed by 9 in the box and our average receiving corps is jammed at the line and locked down? Our defense is improving, but we are better off maintaining time-of-possession and limiting the exposure of our defense to big plays.

We spent a 2nd round pick on Pat White. Was it a mistake?

Could White be used differently? Should he be used differently?

With Tyler Thigpen being a decent backup with experience, there is no longer a tragedy if Pat White were to get injured (no snaps in the Carolina game). I would not advocate having him substitute for Chad Henne due to rhythm and continuity issues. So how could he be used together with Henne to add an important misdirection/run-pass option to our base offense?

My whole philosophy here is to use Pat White as a distraction to the defense so that there would be running room for Ricky from the Tailback position. Basically, he would be used like the Patriots use Julian Edelman, who I believe is an inferior athlete to Pat White. Throw short passes to him near the line of scrimmage and let him use his legs to make plays.

Imagine Pat White as a halfback in the following Modified Pistol formation:

WR _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _LT LG C RG RT _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _WR

_ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _FB

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ QB

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ HB

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ TB

Note that Ricky plays TB and is relieved by Lex Hilliard. Pat White is relieved by Kory Sheets (can he throw the ball?).

Kory Sperry or Joey Haynos relieves Polite as the FB in the formation, motioning to the hole or into the slot.

Pat White as HB gets the ball on pitches or shovel passes backwards before or after the play action handoffs to the Tailback (Ricky) in order to maintain pass-run option.

As the play develops, Pat White could still get the ball as a normal flair pass in the flat or by running a shallow crossing route over the middle on a dump off. Easy throws, easy catches, and if White can make a man miss, being a surprisingly tough runner for 6-0 190, he could convert some third downs.

It would take a change in offensive philosophy to begin treating Pat White like the rookie QB that he is.

First put the gloves back on because he is going to be catching he ball as well as throwing it (and the weather is getting colder).

Second, at the beginning of the game, give Pat White a few high percentage easy roll-out throws off of pitches or reverses to get hm his first completion and establish him as a legitimate passing threat.

Lastly, use him as a decoy on reverses and fake pitches to open up running room for Pounding the Rock with Ricky. On the occasional reverse or misdirection pitch to the backside, he would be a threat for chunk yardage running or throwing.

My hope is that his presence in the backfield would slow down the pass rush and spread out the defense to the edges to open up running room for Ricky inside even if White doesn't actually touch the ball. Since it is unreasonable to expect him to be in on every play, I would relieve him with Kory Sheets who I think would add some speed and shiftiness on misdirection pitches outside to open up the inside running game with Williams/HIlliard.

Anyway, what's your opinion of White?

From the Sun-Sentinel guest Blogger Joe W.

    C. Wake – 1 tackle, 0 sacks – I’m sorry, but Wake is just “sick”.

He didn’t have any stats in game, but just about every time he was on the field he was abusing Jeff Otah.

• The 1st Porter sack should have been a half a sack with the other half being Wake’s.
• The interception was when Wake was pressuring Delhomme.
• The Starks sack, Wake was on top of Delhomme again.
• The 2nd to last drive Carolina was driving down the field until it got to the 30 and then Miami put Wake in the game. Wake was on top of Delhomme again. Drive stalled.
• The last drive Carolina was again driving down the field no problem. They put Wake in the game for the final play and he was on top of Delhomme again. Imcomplete.
• The right tackle for Carolina should have been called for holding against Wake at least 5 times in this game. And if I’m him, I’m going to start complaining to the refs so I get that call more often.
• There were times Otah had a bear hug on him and it wasn’t called.

If you remember back in training camp the coaches put a buzzer for our QB’s to get rid of the ball. It went off after 3 seconds. Well, in the NFL, elite pass rushers can get to the QB in 3 seconds. Right now, the only OLB we have that can do that is Wake. And this coaching staff needs to get him on the field every single passing down they can possibly spare. If he played more snaps, even in a reserve role, he could have 10 sacks this year. It’s kind of a little scary what he’s going to do when he actually gets to play full time. Has Parcells found his next LT? DeMarcus Ware? I think so.

Wake is sick, man, just sick."

There is more to football than a game stat line. Much more.

Looks like we've found a gem in Cam Wake. Please let him play more. MUCH MORE.

Suppose we bench Joey Porter for Buffalo and get him all fired up for Brady and Vollmer and the Pats (and more importantly let him rest his 30something body) ala Pedro Martinez in the MLB playoffs.

Charlie Anderson and Cameron Wake can man the fort while he's gone and get valuable playing experience.

Then bench him for Jacksonville and get him fired up (and well rested) for pursuing Vince Young.

Then bench him for Houston and get him fired up (and more importantly, well-rested) for Big Ben and the shaky Steeler O-Line.

We have enough quality depth at OLB to get the job done, why not be smart when using our personnel?

What do you think?

What is your suggested offensive game plan and suggested defensive game plan v. the Panthers on a short week?

Previous Game Stat Leaders

Carolina 28 (Delhomme 15-24-0 195 2 TDs, Williams 19-92, Stewart 11-82 2 TDs, Muhammad 6-91, Smith 4-34 2 TDs)

Atlanta 19 (Ryan 22-41-2 224 1 TD, Turner 9-111, Snelling 18-61, White 7-98, Gonzalez 6-67)

New Orleans 30 (Brees 24-35-1 1 TD, Thomas 13-50 1 TD, Meachem 5-98, Henderson 3-93, Bush/Thomas 12-68)

Carolina 20 (Delhomme 17-30-0 0 TD, Williams 21-149 2 TD, Smith 4-64)

Carolina 34 (Delhomme 7-14-0 1 TD, Williams 23-158, Stewart 17-87 2 TDs, Smith 3-56 1 TD)

Arizona 21 (27-46-5 242 2 TD, Wells 8-47, Fitzgerald 6-66, Hightower 8-57)

An All-Porpoise Formation

"One ring to rule them all and in the darkness, bind them."

MY GOAL: ONE base formation from which you can pass, run the Wildcat, or run the spread option.

1. I want the offense to have some option components which forces the defense to play assignment football and if they miss an assignment, then chunk yardage results.
2. There must ALSO be a passing component, otherwise the box is stacked and the offense is stalled.
3. I want a formation that spreads out the defense and puts the ball in the hands of the playmaking studs in space.
4. I think most option attacks can be stuffed if the defense plays an aggressive, yet disciplined assignment-football. However, if you are able to throw effectively from the formation, you force the defense to back off, open up running lanes via misdirection or gain a man-advantage in blocking and CAN RUN SUCCESSFULLY.

 IS IT POSSIBLE?

 SOLUTION: The All-Porpoise Formation

1.  WR _ _ _ _ _ _ _ LT LG C RG RT_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _WR
2. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ WR
3. _ _ _ _ _ _ _HB _ _ _ _ QB
4. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
5. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ TB
6. 
   
7.  This formation is really not all that exotic, it is just a pistol formation with 3 WR. You can look at the specific personnel groupings in the comments section.
8. Quarterback (RB, CH, PW, TT) in the Pistol formation
9. Greg Camarillo, Davone Bess, Pat White, Kory Sheets, or Ted Ginn attacking from the Tailback position.
10. Defenses are going to try to jam our receivers at the line and dare them to beat them deep. Your best receiver (Greg Camarillo) can avoid the jam by going in motion from the tailback position or slot or simply sneaking downfield from the tailback position.
11.  You don't really call different plays, you just change personnel. They run the option and read/react to the defense. Practice time is spent reading and reacting. Minimum practice time, maximum different looks. Obviously, you want to maintain continuity and keep the Triggerman the same, but under certain circumstances, you may need to insert a throwing QB in long-yardage scenarios.
12.  This formation would be new to Tampa Bay, so they would have to scrap all their blitz plays and preparation until they figured out how to beat the new formation.
13. It is not really a new formation to the Fins, building on the WildPat formation slightly modified. The Caroline Panthers would have a short week to prepare, so all Miami has to do is fine-tune their execution while Carolina has to guess which personnel grouping they would see.
14.  I envision it as a new Wildcat Innovation which would have Defensive Coordinators all over the NFL stymied for weeks, but maybe there is a simple defensive modification which makes it all obsolete. You tell me.
15.  Ultimately, what I am after is a wide-variety of flexible options so that the Fins just focus on a few variants (say pick two of them for the week's game plan) and fine-tune the execution, but the opposing Defensive Coordinator has to play to stop all of the different looks and the defensive players are no longer reacting by instinct, but are thinking too much. They also have to scrap all of their deviously prepared blitzes.

 As a reminder, I am including the variant formations in the comments section to minimize information overload. Comments?

What? Design an offense around a gutless pass-dropper?

I'm designing an offense and a formation around a speedy player who may have suspect hands and suspect route running abilities. "Good luck with that" you say?

There are four players on the roster who are absolute dynamite in the open field IF they have the ball in their hands:

Ricky Williams, Ted Ginn, Pat White, and Kory Sheets.

The problem is obviously getting the ball into their hands (without dropping it) and finding a way to get them into space.

Facts to consider:

1. Some NFL teams put their best receiver in the tailback position in the backfield and have them run their route from there. Sometimes it allows them to get a favorable matchup on a LB.
2. Ricky, Teddy, Pat, and Kory would all be great on kickoff returns if the risk of injury /muffing the kick were not so great.
3. If teams continue to stack the box against the Fins to stop their rushing attack and a speedy guy were to break through the line somehow (managing to hold onto the football), it would be an automatic TD (how's that for chunk yardage) and to counter the threat, the defense would be forced to back off the line.

Here's the formation: 

Put Ted Ginn (or Ricky or White or Sheets) as KR/WR deep in the backfield...like 20 yards deep. Hopefully Henne won't be joining him on a 15 yard sack :)

BH _ _ _ _ _ _ _ LT LG C RG RT _ _ _ _ _ _ _GC

_ _ _ _RW _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _RB

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _CH

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _WR/KR

You can have the KR/WR start in a three-point stance or sprinter's stance and start running at the snap of the ball toward the line of scrimmage at full speed zig-zagging in misdirection as needed to position himself for an open "return lane". Note that the "kick returner" DOES NOT HAVE THE BALL at this time.

The QB (Henne or Thigpen) is in a shallow shotgun or pistol formation.

Option 1 occurs as the "kick returner" comes within 5 yards of QB depth. A decision has to be made whether to flip/pitch/pass the ball to the up and coming KR/WR. The reason this must happen at this moment is that the transfer will be considered a backward lateral. For someone like Pat White, but also for Ginn and Williams, it would allow him the option to throw a forward pass. I have no information on how well Sheets can throw the ball. Catching this "pass/lob" would be similar to fielding a soft-tossed punt/kickoff. 

Option 2 occurs after the KR/WR passes the QB depth position and before the KR/WR arrives at the LOS. Now the transfer is considered a forward pass. This is now basically a Bubble Screen, but the KR/WR is in full stride and running primarily north/south. To catch this pass will require more skill, but it is still a rather easy and somewhat short throw. A pump fake toward the KR/WR would be a good strategy here to try to get the defender to bite or at least freeze the run defense.

Option 3 occurs as the KR/WR passes the LOS. This is basically a slow developing slant play. The advantage is that instead of the WR/KR beginning to speed up and catch and run on a slant, the WR/KR is now at full speed hopefully catching the ball in stride. A pump fake would also be advantageous here.

Option 4 occurs as the KR/WR attempts to finish the "go" part of the "slant and go" hoping to run by a defender trying to stop the bubble screen slant or at least stretch the defense deep and leave the underneath routes open.

Clearly with all the running, you will need multiple WR/KRs and I feel that Ginn, Williams, Sheets, and White would be a deep enough rotation that you wouldn't wear them all out.

Bottom Line: you have a dynamic runner in space catching an easy throw behind the LOS at top speed with defenders scrambling laterally to "tackle a kick returner" as a distraction/side show to your normal spread offense play calls. Precision route running and great hands not a requirement here. Just really fast legs. You utilize Ginn's talents and make use of Pat White's skills as well as Sheets and Ricky.

We don't have a go-to receiver to make the defense back off. Could we use this gimmick to do the same thing with the players we already have (and some wish we didn't). Your thoughts?

Any thought to moving to more of a 3-4 Hybrid Defense or at least a 3-4 Hybrid formation?

I realize that you can't just change your entire defense mid-season, but I read that the Patriots had to do some 3-4 hybrid stuff out of necessity due to injuries.

Could we make some adjustments to our defense to take into account underperformance/injury (Joey Porter, Matt Roth, Jason Ferguson, Channing Crowder) and get our playmakers into position to make plays (Randy Starks, Cam Wake)?

I say that Randy Starks is our best defensive player right now and it would be to our advantage to get him in position to put more pressure on the QB. The RDE position in the 3-4 is important, but it is not a prime position to get pressure on the QB. Richard Seymour and Haloti Ngata were able to be effective because their supporting cast put pressure on the offense. We don't have a Mike Vrabel/Terrell Suggs putting pressure on the outside to free up rushers from the inside.

I am not advocating a full shift into a 3-4 hybrid defense. Basically I am suggesting lining up in a 4-3 formation with one of the OLBs with his hand on the ground. From here, you would either attack as a four-man nickel D-Line OR shift at the last moment back into a 3-4 standard alignment. I believe that the shift at the last moment would create enough confusion with the Offensive line that you would be able to get a rusher free (either a D-lineman or a blitzing OLB). Add to that Cornerback blitzes off-and-on and you would have a recipe for aggressive pressure without the risk of all-out blitzes. Your safeties are back in coverage helping your rookie corners or covering the TE. The pressure is coming from D-Line and OLB alignment shifts and unpredictable, but frequent CB blitzes.

Here's a sample of a suggested hybrid 3-4 formation:

_ _ _ _ _ _ LDE (Merling/Moses) LDT (Soliai/Langford) RDT (Starks/McDaniel) RDE (Taylor/Wake) _ _ _ _ _

_ _ _SLB (Walden/Wake/Taylor) _ _ _MLB (Torbor/Kershew) _ _ WLB (Ayodele/Nate Jones - nickel)

I'm calling for SS (Tyrone Culver) and FS (Chris Clemons) to provide coverage whenever Davis/Smith are sent on CB blitzes.

Note that if the hybrid shifts back at the last minute to a 3-4, there might be some times when Kendall Langford is caught at NT and Quentin Moses is caught at LDE in a 3-4 alignment which might be a disadvantage against the run, but Langford is 6-6 290 and Moses is 6-5 260, so it is not a total mismatch and if they are slanting into the line, they might even make a tackle for loss play in the backfield. On a pass rush, they would definitely have a quickness/mobility advantage in addition to the surprise effect of a last-second shift.

Bottom Line: I am putting Randy Starks/Tony McDaniel into a position to make an Albert Haynesworth type impact on a game attacking from the RDT(4-3)/RDE(3-4) spot.

An additional benefit is that instead of having Quentin Moses, Jason Taylor, and Cam Wake try to attack and adjust to a new/unfamiliar OLB technique, they can attack more instinctively from a more familiar DE spot (obviously, they will need practice reps at these new positions).

You can get additional pressure by blitzing the SLB/LOLB off the strong side. I highly recommend it since the safeties I've chosen are decent in coverage.

Pass coverage improves with Culver/Clemons from the safety position playing deep centerfield.

Addtional pressure comes from big/fast/physical CB surprise blitzes or from CBs playing physical press coverage at the LOS.

Note: to defend the 3 WR set, you insert Nate Jones for Akin Ayodele as the nickel corner. The SLB and MLB become nickel linebackers.

SAMARY:

• Sit Joey Porter, Matt Roth, Yeremiah Bell, Gibril Wilson, and deactivate Charlie Anderson (Moses active).
• Move Quentin Moses to a hybrid LDE position and Kendall Langford to a hybrid NT/DT position
• Get more snaps for Erik Walden and Cameron Wake (especially from a hand-on-the-ground position).
• Use the uniqe talents of our current players to have an impact on the game from creative positions in the formation - minimizing the learning curve (and sitting loud-mouth underperformers).