Innovation?

Was there something innovative about the Dolphins offense last night? It sure looked it to me. I only watched the 2nd half, but boy, that was one of the most exciting 4th quarters of football I've watched in a long time. Miami's offense had the Jets, who heretofore had a great defense, back on their heels and totally confused. Miami was running Wildcat with different QB/running back combos and then a regular offense from play to play. They were running on 3rd and 5 effectively. The Jets couldn't stop them.

Today, the typically blustering Rex Ryan calls these plays gimmicky and blames his defense for not being able to stop them. Fair enough, maybe these are simply old formations being reappropriated in a new age. And I know Miami has been using Wildcat for the past two years now. But this was the first time I saw it employed so effectively. Here is a 1-3 team taking it to a 3-1 team. And I thought the Jets defense was their strong suit.

Or maybe it was more simple than the Wildcat. Miami's offensive line seemed to be pushing the Jets a yard or two down the field every play. Dominating line play = victory. I thought the domination, however, was the result of the Jets being on their heels and confused about the direction of the play. That is a structural, coaching choice and an interesting antidote to the complex defensive schemes now used in the NFL.

I don't know if this is an aberration or the beginning of a new style of offense, in the same way Walsh introduced the West Coast offense in the 1980s. The cover-2 Tampa Ba defense in some respects was the counter to the West Coast offense. Could the Wildcat/West Coast offense be the counter to the cover two?

*note- actually the Jets play the old style 46 Buddy Ryan defense which was designed to stop the run. No one uses the 46 anymore because of the introduction of the West Coast offense, except the Jets.