I can agree with a lot of that, but the stat totals don't take into account the situations those WC plays were used. I do know that Sparano wanted to make a point against Rex with that formation, because of all the hype leading up to the game, and Rex's history against the Dolphins' pet formation - that was obvious in the Phins' playcalling and definitely in how the game ended. When they run it with 3TEs and 6 linemen, the Jets just couldn't match up personnel well enough to contain the edges or fill the gaps to stop it from killing them for sporadic gains on key downs or in key drives. I think part of that is not studying enough film on that formation. Rex and Pettine both made points last week of the low number of reps that the Phins had used the WC in previously this season to justify not preparing well enough, and I think it showed in the way the Jets' defense simply failed to recognize how the play flow was going to turn out. They did not recognize any tendencies of Ronnie and Ricky and ended up biting on fakes over and over again. That's mainly what I think Rex was alluding to when he was bitching about the D being unprepared on Monday night. They need to recognize those tendencies, because while the bread and butter of how the Phins use the WC is in double-teams and mismatches, the key to it's effectiveness is less time for defenses to adjust to the play developing. There is no QB taking a 3 or 5 step drop and allowing LBs and linemen to read the gaps like they are used to in a traditional pro formation. That, I think, is what frustrated the Jets defense most of all. Because the Jets' D scheme is extremely timing-based at this early point in it's development. They have been effective at the beginning of the season, but most of these guys are still not completely comfortable in the scheme. You are definitely right about one thing - Henne's performance was completely unexpected, and it showed in Rex's postgame presser. He was clutch under pressure and he exploited weak spots in the Jets' secondary well. Henne was the wildcard and the Phins turned a royal flush at the end of the game because of him. That surprise, thankfully, will not be as prevalent in our next meeting. BTW, I really meant that about the Phins' secondary (terrible) but their front 7 did a pretty damn good job of limiting the Jets' offense on intermediate routes and pretty much took one of their playmakers on key downs (Keller) out of the game.
