rcummings@tampatrib.com

TAMPA - The wildcat formation is suddenly all the rage in the NFL. Bucs coach Jon Gruden isn't surprised. Fans, however, may be surprised to hear of the fad's true genesis.

It didn't really start with the Dolphins, who became the first pro team in years to successfully run plays out of the wildcat formation earlier in the season.

It actually began back in the spring, while pro teams were preparing for the draft and watching tape of Arkansas running backs Darren McFadden and Felix Jones.

"Arkansas didn't have a mobile quarterback; they had a passer, so they put McFadden back there," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin told Steelers.com. "It all stems from everybody watching Arkansas tape in preparation for the draft.

"People in this league saw that if you don't have a mobile quarterback, you can still attack in this way by putting the back back there and splitting the quarterback out."

That's the wildcat. It calls for the quarterback to line up either in the slot or out wide as a receiver and for the snap to go directly to one of two backs staggered in the backfield.

That's what the Dolphins did against the Patriots in Week 3, and the result was four touchdowns - all of which came off direct snaps to running back Ronnie Brown.

A week later Jacksonville ran a play out of the wildcat formation, snapping the ball directly to running back Montell Owens. The result was a 41-yard Owens touchdown run.

Since then almost every team in the league has attempted a play or two out of the wildcat formation, including the Bucs, who didn't have the same kind of success that other teams have had with it.

"You see [Dolphins running back] Ricky Williams go 50 yards untouched; I saw [Eagles receiver] DeSean Jackson score last [week] in the wildcat formation; we used the wildcat against Seattle and got 3 yards," Gruden said.

That won't deter him. Gruden, who called for a halfback pass and got a touchdown out of the play against Kansas City two weeks ago, appears willing to try the wildcat again.

"It's clear as day that that's the wave of Football," he said. "So we might use it ourselves. I don't know if it's trickery or just a sign that the times are changing."

It's probably the latter. Offenses in college Football have been making less and less use of fullbacks in recent years and since pro teams are starting to make less and less use of fullbacks, the wildcat may be here to stay.

It will stay, at least, until defenses can figure out a way to stop it. They haven't done that yet, though, because the quarterback moving out from under center creates a problem for them.

"What happens in certain gap defenses," Gruden said, "is you can become a gap short because you don't have to account for the quarterback when he's underneath the center.

"When he leaves the center position, now you have a little bit of a problem in certain defensive schemes, and some of these shrewd coaches have figured that out and used it to their advantage."

Gruden can't count himself in that group just yet, but you get the feeling from listening to him talk about it that he's just itching for another chance to run some plays out of it.

When asked this past week if he would run it he said, "Yeah, I [would] if our Wildcats are healthy. You got to have some cats. It's hard to play three backs or two backs at a time if you don't have any."

Reporter Roy Cummings can be reached at (813) 259-7979.

Photo credit: The Associated Press

Photo: Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown, taking a direct snap while in the wildcat formation last week against the Seahawks, scored four touchdowns from the formation against the Patriots in Week 3.

Photo: Jon Gruden

Hasn't had success with wildcat - yet.

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