Early in Sunday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Miami Dolphins were moving the ball effectively and had driven down to the 3-yard line. That’s when offensive coordinator Dan Henning called for running back Ricky Williams to take the snap in the wildcat formation and throw a pass.
The pass was intercepted, and Henning has been criticized this week for getting too cute with the play calling. But Henning spoke publicly about the play for the first time today, and he said he’s not sorry he made the call.
“We don’t apologize,” Henning said, per the Palm Beach Post. “We lament like everyone else.”
That’s not to say Henning would do the same thing over again.
“I’d like to have back every call I ever made that wasn’t successful,” Henning said. “Can’t do it. That’s not the way this works.”
Although the Dolphins have frequently called wildcat plays in which running back Ronnie Brown had the option to run or pass, Williams hadn’t thrown a pass in a regular-season game since 2000. But Henning defended the call as an aggressive, creative attempt to get into the end zone.
“We’re trying to do everything we can with our resources to move the football and score points,” Henning said.
Pass the Dutchie to the left hand side
NOTE TO SELF: PUNCH THE BALL IN NEXT TIME…
a-hole!
People are looking at this call far too narrowly. Yes, it was bad in a sense when there was an easy TD on the table, but I think the play had to do with keeping the threat of a pass alive out of the direct snap to Ricky (which I guess I will call the wildcat). It’s not about thinking that was the best call at the time, it was about making a call that could keep teams down the stretch thinking that a pass is still an option from the wildcat. In which case, after driving at will down the field and requiring the defense to go 98 yards if it did go horribly wrong WAS the best time to do it.
Miami didn’t lose in the first quarter when Ricky was running all over the Bills (even if it was a bad pass). Miami lost in the second half because of bad defense and by getting away from the power run game on offense. Yeah, it was seven points, but I have a hard time seeing the outcome of that game being different even if Ricky had pounded it in, up the middle for the TD.
It’s a bad call because it didn’t work.
It’s an ok call because the defense wasn’t expecting it.
It’s a good call if Rickey is a competent thrower (I don’t know if he is).
It’s a great call if it worked.
Hindsight sure is fun though.
The latest confirmation to a long held belief that too many coaches believe they are smarter than they really are and wind up outsmarting themselves.
They fail to consistently employ the KISS Principle:
Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Instead they violate the Six ‘P’ Principle:
Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance.
lot of idiot calls lately and everyone of the idiots calling them think they were right!
as they say
an intelligent man learns from his mistakes – an ignorant man thinks he never made one
i was there live @ the game .I’m a dolphins fan in Pittsburgh mostly cuz of PEEZY, but the call was bad..way too risky..lowered the team’s morale! need to pound a whack a__ buffalo team, like the jets did 2night. think it may have cost the season.yeah yeah you still were up 7-0 but still .Hoping 2 keep it alive this weekend but know its tough, I’m not a HENNE believer yet.
Wildcat yes! Wildthrow no!
I agree with ftomeo, You have to mix in the unexpected to keep the other team off balance. Sometimes it fails at that moment, and later on when someone is covering the pass, Ricky walks in.