Paul Domowitch: Gruden likes Wildcat, but not with Eagles
Nobody is more bullish on the NFL potential of the spread offense than Jon Gruden. When the former Tampa Bay Bucs coach and current ESPN Monday Night Football analyst starts talking about the Wildcat, it's like listening to the late Billy Mays pitch the wonders of Mighty Putty and the Awesome Auger.
If he still were coaching the Bucs, you can bet he'd be running the Wildcat/spread a lot right now. Thinks it's a terrific weapon, especially if you have a guy like Michael Vick, who can both pass and run out of the formation.
But if he were in his buddy Andy Reid's shoes and coaching the Eagles right now, he says he wouldn't take the Wildcat out of the box.
Why? Because he thinks Reid is treading on dangerous ground mixing Vick and the Wildcat into an offense that already features one of the game's best quarterbacks, Donovan McNabb.
"If I had a less-established quarterback like I had a couple years back in Tampa when I was starting a rookie, Bruce Gradkowski, I wouldn't hesitate at all to run it," Gruden said. "I believe in it. I believe it can work at this level.
"But when you already have a multiple Pro Bowler like Donovan, I'd be wary of using it much, if at all. I'd be too concerned about the effect it might have on the flow of my offense. When you have a great quarterback like McNabb, I'm not sure I want to be taking the ball out of his hands."
It remains to be seen how well this meshing of the Wildcat/spread and the West Coast will work. They've used it 30 times in the first three games. They've run out of the formation 24 times for 121 yards, or 5.04 yards per carry, compared to 4.32 yards per carry out of their more traditional sets.
They've only thrown out of the formation six times so far, completing two for 22 yards. But Vick didn't play in the first two games and only threw twice (both incompletions) Sunday.
Vick was on the field for 11 of the Eagles' 63 offensive plays against the Chiefs, lining up at quarterback 10 times and at wide receiver once. Throw in the five other Wildcat plays the Eagles ran without Vick in the game and running back LeSean McCoy taking the direct snap and you're up to 16 plays, or 25.4 percent.
That's no big deal when Kevin Kolb is your starting quarterback. But it could be a very big deal when McNabb returns next week. Does Reid really want to have his star quarterback not touching the ball for a quarter of the snaps in a game? Would McNabb even stand for it?
Vick said after the game on Sunday that he thought 10-11 snaps "is ideal" as far as his involvement with the offense without interrupting the rhythm of the regular offense.
"I can't really be out there full time," he said. "In a 12-play drive, I can't be out there five or six plays. It takes away from the rhythm of the offense."
Tebow's NFL future
Nobody is rooting more for the Wildcat to be effective in the NFL this season than Tim Tebow. If it takes off, so will the University of Florida quarterback's draft stock.
"I talked to at least five NFL people the other day and Tebow's name came up," said NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock. "It's almost like the NFL is split right down the middle on him. There are some guys that say, 'Wow, he's so special. He has to be a first-round pick and you have to figure out a way to make him your quarterback.'
"But there are other people that say, 'No, I'm not changing my whole offense to accommodate one guy. What if he gets hurt? Then you need another guy just like him behind him. And if he's not a full-time quarterback, where do you draft him? What does he play? How does he fit in?' I have some guys saying he's a third- or fourth-round fullback."
Around the League
-- Many NFL personnel people think the 2010 draft class could be one of the most talent-rich ever. The reason: an expected mass exodus of underclassmen because of the possibility of a rookie wage scale in the league as early as 2011. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell prevented that from happening this year by publicly assuring college players that there was zero chance of a rookie wage scale being implemented before the 2010 draft. But he's not going to make that guarantee again. The league's owners have made it clear that the next labor agreement must include a rookie wage scale. And while the union has argued against one in the past, the truth is most veteran players are very much in favor of deep-sixing the practice of handing obscene amounts of money to unproven rookies.
