2009 Niners Wildcat

So is Spurlock a lock to make the team?

Originally posted by pantstickle:

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by pantstickle:

Originally posted by NineFourNiner:

Originally posted by SybErkRimInAL:
i hate gimmick plays.

I only hate them when they don't work for us or when they work against us. Other than that, I love them.

Same here. Personally, I think more people should get to throw the ball. What makes a QB any better than, say, a center?

This:

Yeah, but you don't start there.

POTY!!!

The wildcat is an offensive package that has been roasting defenses for decades. Nothing gimmicky about that. People are so closed minded.

The forward pass is the biggest gimmick in football,but people learned to embrace it.

Originally posted by niner4life21:

Originally posted by BurritoSmuggler:

Originally posted by niner4life21:

Originally posted by valrod33:
please please for the love of god, i hope we really dont run the Wildcat in the regular season, the s**t will not work anymore, it did last year cuz no one really was expecting it, but now im sure every team has practiced against this now, it will not work this year

If you noticed, the only team to pass out of the Wildcat formation were the Dolphins, and it worked both times, for HUGE TD passes. IIRC, no other team did that. I bet if a team tries that this year, it will be a lot harder to defend than just a fake handoff and a run up the middle.

WAY wrong. Dolphins started it, but almost every team tried it at least once or twice. It's as common as the flea flicker. And I agree, it only worked because people weren't used to it. I think it'll fizzle out this year.

Damn, you're right. But still, defending against WR passes, and RB passes, is a lot tougher. I bet you that when QB hands the ball off to a WR on a reverse, the defense is almost always trying to chase him down and contain him. Their instinct isn't to drop back into coverage to defend a pass....

I've said it before, I'll say it again.. The Wildcat ONLY works when you have a guy who can hurt you on the ground AND throw the ball. When a direct snap goes to a runningback, the DBs can either leave coverage in favor of run support (leaving receivers open) or stay in coverage and give no run support (chance of RB breaking it big). Basically, you have to be a ground threat or it will not work. Everyone swears Michael Robinson will be great in the Wildcat, but HE IS NOT A THREAT ON THE GROUND. DBs won't have to leave coverage so he won't be making any big passes and he has proven time and time again that he lacks the vision to find holes and the explosiveness to succeed on the ground. People think just because Robinson was a QB in college that he will automatically succeed in the Wildcat, but they are sadly mistaken. Frank Gore on the other hand would probably have more success if given the option to throw the football out of the Wildcat. I read somewhere last season that Gore has a pretty good arm. We all know the damage he can do on the ground. DBs are far more likely to leave coverage if Gore has the ball than if a non-threat like Robinson does. And if they don't leave coverage, Gore has an even better opportunity to shred their defense up on the ground.

All that being said, I hate the wildcat and I hope we don't see it very often. I know we'll see it a few times until they figure out it's not going to work and abandon it.

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
If you go wildcat you must take the QB off the field, last year teams teed off on QBs lined up at wide out on running plays!

PS love the wildcat, I used to coach a youth team that ran completely out of the wildcat!

The whole point of the wildcat is to catch the other team by surprise. If they look over and see no QB in the huddle, they'll know it's the wildcat and they'll have the time to call whatever plays they have to shut it down.

Originally posted by 49erRider:

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
If you go wildcat you must take the QB off the field, last year teams teed off on QBs lined up at wide out on running plays!

PS love the wildcat, I used to coach a youth team that ran completely out of the wildcat!

The whole point of the wildcat is to catch the other team by surprise. If they look over and see no QB in the huddle, they'll know it's the wildcat and they'll have the time to call whatever plays they have to shut it down.

Thats what I always thought too, but that sure as hell didn't hinder the Dolphins last year lol

Originally posted by Byisgod:

Originally posted by 49erRider:

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
If you go wildcat you must take the QB off the field, last year teams teed off on QBs lined up at wide out on running plays!

PS love the wildcat, I used to coach a youth team that ran completely out of the wildcat!

The whole point of the wildcat is to catch the other team by surprise. If they look over and see no QB in the huddle, they'll know it's the wildcat and they'll have the time to call whatever plays they have to shut it down.

Thats what I always thought too, but that sure as hell didn't hinder the Dolphins last year lol

If I'm not mistaken, their QB was lined up at WR when they ran the wildcat. And teams didn't have a full offseason to prepare for the wildcat like they do this year. Trust me, if the defense looks over to the offensive huddle and sees no QB on the field, they will call the plays they've practiced to shut down the wildcat. It won't be a "surprise" without the QB in there.

[ Edited by 49erRider on Aug 12, 2009 at 12:02:36 ]

Originally posted by valrod33:
please please for the love of god, i hope we really dont run the Wildcat in the regular season, the s**t will not work anymore, it did last year cuz no one really was expecting it, but now im sure every team has practiced against this now, it will not work this year

ya it won't work

neither will running normally or passing, all the teams know about it and will be expecting them.

Originally posted by RonMexico:

Originally posted by valrod33:
please please for the love of god, i hope we really dont run the Wildcat in the regular season, the s**t will not work anymore, it did last year cuz no one really was expecting it, but now im sure every team has practiced against this now, it will not work this year

ya it won't work

neither will running normally or passing, all the teams know about it and will be expecting them.

I agree we should totally try something new and different. Maybe the hailmary offense.

Originally posted by 49erRider:

Originally posted by niner4life21:

Originally posted by BurritoSmuggler:

Originally posted by niner4life21:

Originally posted by valrod33:
please please for the love of god, i hope we really dont run the Wildcat in the regular season, the s**t will not work anymore, it did last year cuz no one really was expecting it, but now im sure every team has practiced against this now, it will not work this year

If you noticed, the only team to pass out of the Wildcat formation were the Dolphins, and it worked both times, for HUGE TD passes. IIRC, no other team did that. I bet if a team tries that this year, it will be a lot harder to defend than just a fake handoff and a run up the middle.

WAY wrong. Dolphins started it, but almost every team tried it at least once or twice. It's as common as the flea flicker. And I agree, it only worked because people weren't used to it. I think it'll fizzle out this year.

Damn, you're right. But still, defending against WR passes, and RB passes, is a lot tougher. I bet you that when QB hands the ball off to a WR on a reverse, the defense is almost always trying to chase him down and contain him. Their instinct isn't to drop back into coverage to defend a pass....

I've said it before, I'll say it again.. The Wildcat ONLY works when you have a guy who can hurt you on the ground AND throw the ball. When a direct snap goes to a runningback, the DBs can either leave coverage in favor of run support (leaving receivers open) or stay in coverage and give no run support (chance of RB breaking it big). Basically, you have to be a ground threat or it will not work. Everyone swears Michael Robinson will be great in the Wildcat, but HE IS NOT A THREAT ON THE GROUND. DBs won't have to leave coverage so he won't be making any big passes and he has proven time and time again that he lacks the vision to find holes and the explosiveness to succeed on the ground. People think just because Robinson was a QB in college that he will automatically succeed in the Wildcat, but they are sadly mistaken. Frank Gore on the other hand would probably have more success if given the option to throw the football out of the Wildcat. I read somewhere last season that Gore has a pretty good arm. We all know the damage he can do on the ground. DBs are far more likely to leave coverage if Gore has the ball than if a non-threat like Robinson does. And if they don't leave coverage, Gore has an even better opportunity to shred their defense up on the ground.

All that being said, I hate the wildcat and I hope we don't see it very often. I know we'll see it a few times until they figure out it's not going to work and abandon it.

PSSSSSSST Quick tell coach Raye about his mistake.

When the 49ers signed Micheal Spurlock in January, the transaction barely caused a ripple. Seven months later, however, Spurlock is making waves. When the 49ers' first-team offense began installing their version of the Wildcat today - they call it "Taser" - Spurlock was the one running the show. Michael Robinson is the first choice at Taser, but because he's currently out of commission with a groin strain, the job has fallen to Spurlock and Arnaz Battle, who ran it with the second team today.

Originally posted by Byisgod:

Originally posted by 49erRider:

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
If you go wildcat you must take the QB off the field, last year teams teed off on QBs lined up at wide out on running plays!

PS love the wildcat, I used to coach a youth team that ran completely out of the wildcat!

The whole point of the wildcat is to catch the other team by surprise. If they look over and see no QB in the huddle, they'll know it's the wildcat and they'll have the time to call whatever plays they have to shut it down.

Thats what I always thought too, but that sure as hell didn't hinder the Dolphins last year lol

That's b/c most of the time Chad stayed on the field and was in the huddle. then as the huddle breaks or before the snap Chad splits out to WR and Ronnie Brown or Ricky Williams would move under the center. This offesense isn't a fas every tema in teh league is putting in some packages of some kind.

Originally posted by backontop:

Originally posted by RonMexico:

Originally posted by valrod33:
please please for the love of god, i hope we really dont run the Wildcat in the regular season, the s**t will not work anymore, it did last year cuz no one really was expecting it, but now im sure every team has practiced against this now, it will not work this year

ya it won't work

neither will running normally or passing, all the teams know about it and will be expecting them.

I agree we should totally try something new and different. Maybe the hailmary offense.

The Wildcat sucks, its not gonna work this year, I hope we dont run it and embarass ourselves

Originally posted by 49erRider:

Originally posted by Byisgod:

Originally posted by 49erRider:

Originally posted by GolittaCamper:
If you go wildcat you must take the QB off the field, last year teams teed off on QBs lined up at wide out on running plays!

PS love the wildcat, I used to coach a youth team that ran completely out of the wildcat!

The whole point of the wildcat is to catch the other team by surprise. If they look over and see no QB in the huddle, they'll know it's the wildcat and they'll have the time to call whatever plays they have to shut it down.

Thats what I always thought too, but that sure as hell didn't hinder the Dolphins last year lol

If I'm not mistaken, their QB was lined up at WR when they ran the wildcat. And teams didn't have a full offseason to prepare for the wildcat like they do this year. Trust me, if the defense looks over to the offensive huddle and sees no QB on the field, they will call the plays they've practiced to shut down the wildcat. It won't be a "surprise" without the QB in there.

If you run the Wildcat (single wing, unbalanced line) as it was drawn up by one of the greatest coaches in football history, "Pop" Warner it is devastating.

I coached a single wing team and let me tell you unless you lose a DB and add a lineman or line backer to your defensive scheme, the only hope of stopping the formation is to run blitz the gaps and hope the singlewing team does not pass.

From the 19320's until the 1950's everyone ran the single wing. All the defenses in those days were designed to limit its effectiveness, thats why the T-formation, or the Pro-set offense was developed, to take advantage of defenses loaded for the single wing (wildcat). Fast forward to today, all teams line up in a defense designed to defeat the pro-set offense, so why not run the single wing.

Plenty of youth and high school coaches like myself have been doing it since Jon Reede asked the why not the single wing question in his book "single wing for youth football".

I about fell out of my chair when I saw the Dolphins run their Wildcat, I had to call some of the guys I have coached against and beaten with the wildcat who said it's okay for youth but it would never work in the NFL!

As defenses in college get faster and more spread out to deal with the spread option, I would assume that somebody will install a single wing and kick ass at the college level.

If you want to see a gimmick, or maybe the future of football, google A-11 formation!

the wildcat was definitely a "shocker" last year, and it was so in vogue that everyone was crapping all over themselves to get in on the whackiness. It does seem a little silly for every team now trying to run it just because the Dolphins were really good at it for one game. (I know there were other memorable "Wildcat" moments last season, but it was never the difference maker in another game like it was in that one).

That said, I don't think its a bad thing to have some of those wrinkles in the playbook, especially if you have some guys who can play multiple positions. Our problem is that we don't have a Class-A runner who can take those snaps. Maybe this is where Spurlock makes his money?

I'd be more interested in seeing us run more conventional Spread formations, kind of like what NE does--especially if Smith ends up starting.