I wrote a column a while back about how Andy Reid and Jon Gruden are football brothers. You saw a glimpse of what I'm talking about when Jim Johnson passed and all the guys he had mentored bounded together to honor him.
You have no idea how much NFL football coaches talk to each other. They talk all the time and they talk about everything.
I was listening to Gruden on ESPN as he did the analyst work for the New York Giants vs. Carolina Panthers game. He was very excited about the wildcat formation.
Gruden was talking about it in regards to how it helped the running game. It gives you an extra blocker. he showed plays from a year ago and how good they looked.
Remember Gruden and Andy grew up together as coaches under Mike Holmgren. Jon fell in love with the running game, while Andy fell in love with the passing game
Most of the time Gruden is thinking about the running game and Reid is thinking about the passing game. They spend a lot of their free time trying to come up with ways to be more effecitve..
I remember talking with Gruden when he was the Eagles offensive coordinator and he had to design a way for Ricky Watters to get yardage each week, despite the fact that their passing game was pathetic with Rodney Peete at quarterback.
Some how and some way he was able to get it done.
During the broadcast Gruden marveled at how the wildcat could create problems in the passing game as well with a guy like Michael Vick at the quarterback position. He talked about Vick averaging 8 yards a run when he ran the spread offense for Atlanta.
You know the west coast offense guys have been thinking about this all off season. They have been on the phone talking to each other about how the wildcat is changing the NFL and what is the best way to utilize it. I think we're going to see Reid pull something out of his hat, when he employs Michael Vick.
He loves designing plays that are effective but he seems to enjoy successful trick plays even more. It's like he wants to play chess with the opposing defensive coordinator.
