Eagles’ throw-to-an-open-cat formation shocks, awes Chiefs
Michael Vick played in his first regular season NFL game since 2006 as the Eagles pummeled the Chiefs 34-14 on Sunday. Vick ran a handful of Wildcat plays, but it was the Eagles’ elusive throw-to-an-open-cat (or “Opencat”) offense that stole the show and gave the Eagles their second win of the season.
Starting in place of the injured Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb ran the experimental offense to near perfection, throwing to open cats for 327 yards and two touchdowns.
Andy Reid later explained the difficulty involved in running such a newfangled, hi-tech offense when everyone is so used to running the Wildcat.
“It’s something we’ve been working on for a couple weeks now and to be honest, we didn’t expect such positive results so soon,” said Andy Reid of the Opencat offense. “It’s hard to explain exactly how it works, but essentially what you wanna do is pick an open cat to throw to and when you’ve found one, that’s when you throw the ball to that cat.”
Overwhelmed by the formation from the Eagles’ first offensive possession, the Chiefs had no answer and could not recover for the rest of the game.
“We gameplanned all freaking week to defend against the Wildcat and then they throw this Opencat stuff at us,” said first-year Chiefs head coach Todd Haley. “They did run a couple Wildcat plays and we did a good job stopping them, but how in the world are you supposed to defend against a quarterback that can throw to open cats on a consistent basis? You can’t, it’s impossible.”
The Eagles will decide whether to stick with the popular offense — which has also been implemented by the Saints with great success — or return to the Wildcat in Week 5 when Donovan McNabb is expected to return against the Buccaneers.
Sluggish Favre demanding games be played before supper
Vikings head coach Brad Childress was approached by a very groggy and inattentive Brett Favre late Saturday afternoon about the start times for the remaining preseason and regular season games.
Since returning to football about a month ago, Favre has had a hard time coping with the NFL’s policy to play games during late-afternoon and prime time hours.
Favre made his Vikings debut on August 21 and struggled in his brief appearance, completing one of his four passes for only four total yards against the Chiefs. The aging QB attributed his lack of focus and general cantankerous behavior to what he has labeled as “inappropriate” game times.
“I don’t know why they have us playing at all hours of the night like this,” Favre said during a midday practice session. “Since when do we play games at four in the evening? As much as I love this game, there’s no way I can be productive at such an unholy hour.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters that he received a hand-written letter from Favre demanding a change to the Vikings game times to coincide with the Mississippi native’s two o’clock supper time.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with something like this,” said Goodell. “I get about two or three of these every year from the older guys still hanging around in the league. Vinny Testaverde actually wanted to replace the Gatorade jugs with prune juice a few years back. I sent him a crossword puzzle book as a compromise and haven’t heard from him since.”