Tony Sparano Being Oddly Secretive About the Wildcat

Aug 26, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sparano during the second half at MetLife Stadium. The Panthers defeated the Jets 17-12. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

We all know that Tim Tebow is here to run a form of the Wildcat. Call it the Wildcat, the read option, or whatever. We have seen him have the success with it in Denver, and we know it is going to be a part of the plan here with the Jets. We already know that they haven’t, and aren’t going to show it during the preseason. Now, Tony Sparano has come out with these cryptic quotes when asked about it. Look at what he had to say about his conversation regarding it with coach Rex Ryan:

Rex (Ryan) and I just had a long discussion. That’s assuming that we’re even doing any of this stuff and when we’re going to do it and how we’re going to do it. Just because we have a player in the building here that has some history running the football, not really in the wildcat by the way, doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s exactly what we’re going to do. All that being said, we know there’s going to be some version of something, I think that’s been said. With that being said, we just had a good discussion about it. We talked about the pros and cons, putting it out there or not putting it out there. If it is something that we’re going to do, should we put it out there? If it’s not, why waste time putting it out there? We have other things that we need to rep right now. This is a new offense. If we were in year two, you would not care. The team (Carolina Panthers) went out there the other night, they took the ball from center with the quarterback (Cam Newton) that they’ve got, then they turned around and they did this little thing that made it look like they were reading something, but they really weren’t. They were handing the ball off every single time. They weren’t showing anything either is my point.

We know that they are not going to show the Wildcat, but it seems odd to not even call it the Wildcat. It’s not a secret. It’s going to happen, and we all know it. Even Coach Ryan has talked about it. He talks about “some version of something”, as if the league doesn’t know what is going to happen. Heck, the Bills are already preparing for it. If they are not going to put it on tape, that is up to them. But the cryptic answers are just weird.

Going on, he turned the discussion quickly to how Tebow performed in the game. Turn the page for the quote.

I saw three things happen in that game when I watch it. I see him come off read-one to two to three and throw the ball to (Joseph) Collins on the sideline out there on a rope. I see him throw the ball up and down in the middle of the field to Dedrick Epps on a throw that I’m sure a lot of people didn’t think Tim can make. There it was again, up and down in the middle of the field. Then I see him in a hard play-action in a pro-style offense, sink the ball into the running back’s stomach, come off and throw a 15-yard hook to Jordan White. There are three throws there, of his four completions, when I watch the film, I see something a little different than I think maybe most people (who) watch it see. The ball came off in really good rhythm, so that’s progress to me. Those are the things that we need to be working on. That’s where we are right now.

Not that it is a problem to hear what Sparano thought about Tebow’s performance during the game, but that answer was in context of a question regarding the Wildcat. It just seems like there is a big cloak of secrecy, even in discussing the Tebow package, that just isn’t necessary.

It almost draws additional attention to it by the secrecy. Just weird, at least in this guy’s opinion.