You are assuming that they even use it in pre-season or the first three games. Think about this as well. They have let it out that they are working on it. Now the DC of the teams they play will have to take time to figure out how to stop it. Thus taking away time that they could be doing something else. Even if they never use it teams are going to have to waste time planning for it.

Since they're banking on it with a rookie featured in it I don't see how they can avoid running it in some preseason games or, if it's effective, why they would reserve it thru all 3 of the first games.
Since Miami popularized the wildcat last season you can be sure def. coordinators around the league have been studying ways to combat it all offseason. Certainly as experienced a dc as Dom Capers knows some things about defensing it. Prepping for it may take some time but it won't be a waste.
In some ways maybe a 3-4 defense will be better against wildcatting than a 4-3.

I think that other teams will be more inclined to look at pre season game tape than reports from their mini-camps when preparing to face the Vikings. The teams in the earlier half of the schedule will be paying more attention, of course. But if they are practicing something with no intent of using it in any games I would be inclined to believe that they are wasting their own time more than they would be wasting the time of other teams.

The drafting of Percy Harvin is very strong evidence that they will be running the Wildcat at least for a few plays this season. He's not a running back, and he will be a work in progress as a receiver in the NFL, but figures to have (he's not proven anything in the NFL of course) game-breaking ability with the ball in his hands. The Wildcat would be their best option in terms of utilizing the skills that he has right now, which is as an explosive, versitile offensive player that defenses have to account for at all times. In the Wildcat he could theoretically be a strong threat to run, catch, or even throw the ball on any given play. A month or so ago the Vikings said that they had drawn up at least 20 plays designed for Harvin alone. I would think that at least a couple of those plays are run from the Wildcat.

Don't get me wrong, I think they will use it for sure. Although I don't see it being used as much if Brett signs. Now if T. Jack or Sage is starting its a different story. If you think about it, put Taylor, Harvin and Peterson in the backfield, slide the QB out to one side. Get a little motion in there and who do you cover? Not sure how well it will work but it will be fun to watch.

Ah, sorry I missed the "first three games" thing and thought that you meant it wasn't a given that they would run it at all. But that is a pretty scary thought to have all those guys on the field, especially with the more athletic Jackson as the QB lining out wide because he would be a little more of a receiving or running threat than the Rosencopter would. Not much of a threat, really, but certainly less of a dead weight.

There is a reason that this play disappeared from the NFL for over 50 years.
Now that everyone knows what it is again it will work about as good as the WR reverse does. How many times have you seen that play pulled off to perfection in the last 10 years?

Gimmicks will work for a very short while and that is it and Miami has already used up its second shelf life.
This is just desperation being passed off as innovation.

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I really think people looked at the dolphins and thought "Hey, if they can do, we can do it too!". I really feel we are going to see this more next season.

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I agree with all of you who say that the Wildcat is a flash in the pan. It will be short lived, and this may be the last year that it will be used. Teams are starting to gameplan against it and will figure out how to shut it down. But it is also fair to say that Miami didn't have the same threats that Minnesota has in Peterson, Taylor, and Harvin. They could have some success with it yet.

MN don't have the quick feet-versatile LT like Long, that can line up in the right side of the RT. And although Peterson is one of if not the best RB in the league, he's not as versatile as Ronnie Brown. How many times a game Chester Taylor lines up together with AP? And how many times Miami uses their 2 backs? So everytime both of them lineup, it's wildcat. And I doubt that Harvin can throw the ball as good as Brown. He needs to learn how to catch it before he can learn how to throw it.
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IMO they're better of using him with screens and quick slants where he'll be very productive, until he can develop into a serious threat.

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