FanHouse Wildcat

One of the maddening things about the Detroit Lions over the eight-year Matt Millen era -- and especially during their winless season in 2008 -- was that no matter how awful the team was, the coaches and front office seemed to feel certain that they were doing things the right way, and that they didn't need to change.

Every time Millen addressed the media during his horrendous run as the team's president, reporters would pose him questions about ways that the Lions should change their approach, and Millen would, without fail, insist that he had the right plan for changing the team's fortunes, and that they were close to turning the corner. And after Millen was finally fired early in the 2008 season, head coach Rod Marinelli constantly insisted that his approach to coaching was the right one, even as he became the first coach ever to finish a season 0-16.

Supposedly the Miami Dolphins somehow invented a formation this year called the "Wildcat," which takes advantage of having versatile players other than quarterback receive the snap and either run or throw ... or run some other trickery. We've seen the Ravens and Chiefs, for example, score TDs with their QB as a receiver on plays from this formation; and we're seeing it used more and more.

Well, the first-year coach (at the time) Ken Whisenhunt of the Arizona Cardinals installed this formation last season, only it's called the "Pahokee" and they use a receiver to take the snap.

You see, Anquan Boldin is built like a RB -- nearly identical size and build to Ryan Grant -- runs like an elite wideout, and can throw the football -- he played QB in high school and even a bit at Florida State. Pahokee, by the way, is the name of his high school, hence the name.

So far, all the Cards have done is run the ball a few times with Boldin ... but that doesn't mean we won't see more variety moving forward, especially as their cushion in the NFC West grows.