On The Ground: Steve Sheiner on the Dolphins and the Wildcat

In the next instalment in my extended interview series for this piece on innovation in the NFL for The Good Point, I present Steve Sheiner of the Miami Dolphins site Blog With A Porpoise. Steve is also a senior editor at Fanball.com, the network I run Canuck Puck for. He had a lot of interesting comments on the Dolphins, the Wildcat offence, former B.C. Lion Cameron Wake and innovation in the NFL in general. Read on for the full interview!

Andrew Bucholtz: The Dolphins obviously made a huge turnaround last year, going from the league's worst record to AFC East champions. How much of that success do you attribute to their implementation of the Wildcat offence?

Steve Sheiner: I certainly think that played a role in their success as they caught a lot of teams off-guard that were ill-prepared to defend against such an unfamiliar attack. But more realistically, the Dolphins had one of the cushiest schedules in 2008 and the loss of Tom Brady in the division certainly didn’t hurt matters either. But the Dolphins have the players to utilize the Wildcat effectively, and with the addition of QB/WR Pat White, you can expect to see plenty more where that came from in 2009.

A.B.: Many teams have since tried to copy the Wildcat, and several more are talking about using at least some form of it next season. Do you think other teams can be successful with it, or was it a unique coaching/personnel mix in Miami that resulted in the Dolphins' success?

S.S.: It’s become fairly common knowledge that the NFL is a copy-cat league. When something works, other teams will adopt it. But the right personnel is crucial in implementing any new offensive scheme, particularly the Wildcat. Ronnie Brown was exceptional spearheading it last season, and you can bet there will be other teams looking to add it to their arsenal in the coming year. It takes the right players to make it work and an offensive mind to creatively design a new mix of formations and plays.

A.B.: With the Wildcat, it seemed teams had a tough time adjusting to it at first. Will it still be effective for the Dolphins this year now that everyone has seen it, or will they have to come up with something else?

S.S.: You will still see the Dolphins run the Wildcat in 2009. What you won’t see is the same plays and formations that you saw last season. Defenses prepare for what they’ve seen before, and certainly for what they’ve been beaten by previously. As the old saying goes, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me”. The Dolphins will have some new tricks up their sleeves this year and more often than not, the opposing defense won’t be ready for it.

A.B.: What will the acquisition of Pat White in the draft mean for the Dolphins' Wildcat formation? Also, is he a player that can only be effective in a system like the Wildcat, or can he be a regular quarterback in the future?

S.S.: To quote the NFL Network’s Mike Mayock, "Pat White is the next level of the Wildcat. You take a guy who can throw the football like an NFL quarterback and who can also run the option. That means the safety is in the box and your cornerbacks are one-on-one with no deep help." That spells trouble for opposing defenses. Local media have already dubbed the attack "The WildPat" as they anticipate seeing plenty of the dynamic White spearheading the offense. White will create passing lanes with his quick feet and is accurate on the move. White will offer a number of different options as a quarterback, running back or slot receiver, and he’ll make defenders pick their poison.

At just 6’ tall and 206 lbs., White doesn’t have the prototypical size to be an NFL quarterback. We’ve seen other smaller QBs succeed, but it’s not easy when you can’t see over the offensive line in front of you. While he’s expected to compete with Chad Henne for the backup role behind Chad Pennington, most local reporters believe Henne is the heir apparent and White won’t see much opportunity for a long while at QB. But he did throw for 6,049 yards and run for 4,480 more while at West Virginia, setting the NCAA record for career rushing yards by a quarterback; so you never know.

A.B.: The Dolphins have made some other unconventional player moves this offseason, including signing CFL star Cameron Wake in the hopes of converting him from defensive end to outside linebacker. Do you think Wake will be successful in the NFL? If so, could this lead to more intensive scouting of the CFL by NFL teams?

S.S.: Presently, Wake is pretty low on the depth chart. He’ll be counted on more as a special teamer than for linebacker duties. He’s a reserve outside linebacker, basically the third-string nickel rusher. He’s primarily expected to be a key contributor on special teams this season and not much more. If he fails to impress there during training camp and the preseason, he might find it tough to retain a roster spot. But if he makes the team and continues to impress coaches, more teams will have their scouts keeping a closer eye on both the CFL and the new upstart league, the UFL.

A.B.: How important do you think it is for NFL teams to try unconventional strategies, whether in player acquisition or in play design and selection?

S.S.: In this era of the NFL, it’s vital for teams to constantly develop new and innovative ways to not only get the ball into the hands of their playmakers, but to catch opposing defenses off guard. The Wildcat did just that last year and you’ll see more of the same (though not quite the same) this year. The acquisition of Pat White is a perfect example of a team taking a player that fits their scheme. Receiver Percy Harvin is another example in Minnesota. Expect the Vikings to implement some Wildcat formations in their offensive game-plans this season, with our without Brett Favre at quarterback. Harvin is another dynamic playmaker that will allow Minnesota to get creative with their play-calling and find ways to get him the ball.

Remembering Bob Ackles, the real water boy

Photo: The cover of Bob Ackles' memoirs.

It came as quite a shock last week to hear the news [Neate Sager, Out of Left Field] of Bob Ackles' death at 69 [Ian Austin and Marc Weber, The Vancouver Province]. Ackles was such an integral part of the B.C. Lions, the CFL and Canadian football as a whole that it seems weird to consider a future landscape of the game he loved so much without him in his prominent role. It's been a bad year for CFL icons: remember, we lost J.I. Albrecht [Stephen Brunt, The Globe and Mail] back [Neate Sager, Out of Left Field] in March [my piece], so Ackles' death takes away yet another of the characters who made this league great.

Today, as an appropriate intro to the Lions-Blue Bombers game, TSN spent a half-hour of their pre-game show relating the tributes [a collection of them from TSN.ca] to Ackles, a man who thoroughly deserved all of them. The collection of tributes they were able to put together on short notice was very impressive. They had the in-studio panel share their personal Ackles stories and had Brian Williams conduct in-depth interviews with a wide range of Ackles' former teammates and colleagues, as well as famed ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman. The whole half-hour was effective and well-done, demonstrating the tremendous impact Ackles had on many different people, but the Berman piece was particularly interesting. It focused on Ackles' career in the U.S. and the respect he earned there, especially during the time he helped to turn the Dallas Cowboys from a 1-15 team into a franchise that would dominate much of the 1990s. He was the director of pro personnel from 1986-89 and the director of player personnel from 89-1992, and thus was heavily involved in the franchise's transactions during that period, including the Herschel Walker trade (which Page 2 ranked as the eighth-most lopsided trade of all time), the trades for Jay Novacek and Charles Haley, and the drafting of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Russell Maryland.

This was a neat perspective to hear from an American sportscaster: too often, we're told that the CFL is a minor league and anyone who earns success there would never have been able to do the same south of the border, but Ackles certainly showed that perception was wrong. He played key roles with the Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals and was also instrumental in the launch of the XFL: in fact, he was the only person to work as a senior executive in all three leagues. It wasn't just Berman, either: there's been a lot of coverage of Ackles' death south of the border, with prominent examples here [Chuck Carlton, The Dallas Morning News], here [Mickey Spagnola, DallasCowboys.com columnist], here [Jim Morris, The Canadian Press via The Toronto Star (features quotes from former Cowboys and Dolphins head coach Jimmy Johnson and Dolphins president Bryan Wiedmeier)], here [Lombardi on Football, SI.com writer Michael Lombardi's personal blog] and here [Phin Phanatic, a Miami Dolphins blog].

Ackles certainly made his mark on football in B.C. over his career as well. He started at the bottom with the Lions, serving as water boy in their initial year in 1953 and working his way up to director of football management 13 years later, assistant general manager in 1971 and the full general manager's slot in 1975. In that role, he soon turned around a dismal team that hadn't recorded an above .500 season since their 1964 Grey Cup win, drafted and acquired key players like Lui Passaglia, Joe "The Throwin' Samoan" Paopao, Roy Dewalt and "Swervin' Mervin" Fernandez, gave Don Matthews his first gig as a head coach in 1983 and led the Lions to the 1985 Grey Cup. With Ackles' later success in the president's role, his capabilities as a general manager were sometimes overlooked, but the players and coaches he acquired and the success he brought speak for themselves: the man knew his football, whether three-down or four-down.

What was even more impressive about Ackles' career with the Lions was his work selling the game to the community. He was prominently involved in supporting amateur and university football in the province, and he believed in winning an audience "one fan at a time." I've had the privilege of speaking with several people who had the chance to meet Ackles personally, and the common denominator in all of their stories is how he genuinely cared about all of them and took the time to sit down and chat about football. He was at home in the corporate world, schmoozing with CEOs and wealthy types, but his real gift was that he never forgot his humble origins in the business as the team waterboy, and he took the time to reach out to average fans and journalists as well as the movers and shakers. He got results, as well: he was instrumental in the construction of B.C. Place in 1983 (and in a great example of value for money, it's still paying off for Vancouver sports: not many stadiums of that vintage can say that!) and improved the average attendance to a ridiculous 42,000 per game by the time he left town in 1985. Without him, the team went through two bankruptcies and dropped to an average gate of less than 20,000, so he came back and did it again in 2002: hiring Wally Buono as coach and G.M., leading the Lions back to the Grey Cup, and more importantly, making them relevant in Vancouver again. All those who bleed orange and black have Bob Ackles to thank for the franchise's past success and current prosperity, and so do fans of the CFL: he was a ceaseless promoter of the league, and when the threat of the NFL caused many to question the relevance of Canadian football in our modern age, he was one of the loudest voices to speak out[an op-ed he wrote for the National Post] for three-down football.

The impact of Ackles' life and work is also shown through the staggering tributes to him, many of which appeared from people and media outlets that don't always give the CFL a lot of play. Some of the best tributes are here [Matthew Sekeres, The Globe and Mail], here [Lowell Ulrich, The Vancouver Province], here [Perry Lefko, Sportsnet.ca], here [Frank Bucholtz, The Langley Times], here [Jeff Paterson, The Georgia Straight] and here [a statement from B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell in The Vancouver Sun]. To wrap up, here's some excerpts from a piece by Vancouver Province columnist Ed Willes, who said everything I've been trying to, but much better:

"It is impossible to measure Bob Ackles' impact on the B.C. Lions.
Well, maybe not impossible. Maybe there are calipers that fit around Jupiter. Maybe there's a tape measure that stretches from here to the moon. But in terms the average person can understand? No, not really.
I mean, how do you put The Water Boy's career in perspective? He was in football longer than Churchill was in politics, starting as a teenager at the lowest rung of a made-up team. By his late 20s he was in that team's front office, and by his late 30s he was running the show. He would ultimately build the Lions into a champion and a monster at the gate before he decamped for the NFL. Then, almost 20 years later, he came back and did it again, just to prove the first time wasn't a fluke.
And now he's gone. Just like that. In his half-century in the game Ackles came to learn that everyone, whether it was Don Matthews with the Lions, Jimmy Johnson with the Cowboys or any one of the thousands of coaches and players he saw come and go, could be replaced. What he failed to grasp, however, is that he was the exception to that rule.
Funny, isn't it? He was such a little guy, but he leaves behind a void that will never be filled."

Indeed. Rest in peace, Bob. You'll always have a place in the hearts of all Lions' fans, and many more hearts of those who care about football.

Related:
A great excerpt from Ackles' fantastic 2007 memoirs, The Water Boy: From The Sidelines To The Owner's Box: Inside The CFL, The XFL, And The NFL about how he brought Wally Buono to town. Highly recommended reading. [The Vancouver Sun].