| Be vewy, vewy quiet. Tebow and Sanchez are practicing the Wildcat. (US Presswire) |
Monday is the day you've been waiting months for -- the day that the Jets would install their wildcat package and bring the rest of the NFL shaking to its knees. Wait, what? The Jets haven't installed that package yet? And you didn't care at all about it?
Well, you're not alone. It's surprising that the Jets are so concerned that so many people care about the wildcat that they put restrictions on what the media could report from the installation practice on Monday. No video, no reports about what kind of formations the Jets were using and the threat to put anyone who does report such formations on double-secret probation (OK, I made that last one up).
According to Lisa Zimmerman at our Rapid Reports Blog, the Jets let the media watch and kept the practice closed to the public, but wouldn't let the press talk about what they saw when the team practiced the wildcat package.
Media members were allowed to ask players questions, but good luck getting any actual info out of them. Tim Tebow and Mark Sanchez both fired out a pile of platitudes about how awesome Tony Sparano is, how great the wildcat can be, and not giving opponents an advantage by letting them gameplan for the wildcat ahead of time.
"I've had so many reps and gone through that so many times -- especially at the University of Florida and even in high school -- it's something I'm very comfortable with," Tebow said about his comfort level in the wildcat.
Sanchez continued doing what he's done all offseason, toeing the company line when asked about Tebow and the wildcat.
"I trust Coach Sparano with it and however he thinks is the best way to use it, that's what we'll do," Sanchez said. "And I think -- I know the entire offense has full faith in him and we're excited about the scheme."
I mean, are they? It's the wildcat we're talking about here. It'll definitely be interesting to see what kind of wrinkles the Jets might include, but how much can Sparano actually put into this system? He's not sitting on someone like Darren McFadden, who's dynamic ability at Arkansas helped the system proliferate the NFL ranks.
He has Tebow (semi-fast runner for a quarterback, inaccurate passer and strong like bull), Sanchez (not a great receiver or runner insofar as we know and only a decent passer), Shonn Greene (if he can throw the ball better than he can run, well, what's taken so long?), Santonio Holmes (a very nice receiver) and Antonio Cromartie (not actually a receiver).
The idea of getting crazy with the Cheese Whiz and whipping out some insane, super-secret formations that stun the world is fun and all, but it's really hard to imagine whatever the Jets do being truly effective over the course of the long haul, if only because their personnel isn't as dynamic as the coaching staff would have you believe.