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Ronnie Brown made a splash running the wildcat offense last season for the Dolphins. He'll see more of it this year.

With a laugh, Jerry Jones calls the package “the Razorback.”

“It’s going to be an important part of what we do,” he said. “Just think about having Felix and Tashard back there, and not knowing which way they’re going or which one has the ball. That could be real good.”

Skeptics question the wildcat’s longevity, especially without a passing threat. They note the Dolphins’ success tapered off as the 2008 season progressed. They say the injury risk to the triggerman is high. They say defensive coordinators usually find an answer to any offensive innovation.

“Wrinkles come, wrinkles go,” Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. “That’s the ebb and flow of the game.”

Dolphins offensive coordinator Dan Henning predicts teams can get a lot more mileage — or yardage, at least — out of the wildcat. He said it’s a natural fit for running quarterbacks emerging these days from top college programs, such as West Virginia’s White or Florida’s Tim Tebow.

“We’re a function personnel-wise of what’s going on in college,” Henning said. “We can’t fund 32 teams with top quarterbacks if you’re not training them in college. And in college they’re going to the spread offense now, where the quarterback is half runner and half passer.”

Still, this is the NFL, where quarterbacks rarely run and the single wing vanished more than 50 years ago in favor of the T-formation.

Nutt received word early last season that his former assistant, David Lee, was helping the Dolphins install the wildcat. That was just before they sprung it on the Patriots.

“I said, ‘There’s no way that’s going to happen in the NFL,”’ Nutt said. “But then, lo and behold, David texted me one day and he said, ‘Watch the highlights tonight if you get a chance.’ And sure enough, I couldn’t believe it.”

Ah, the element of surprise. That’s the charm of the wildcat — and one reason it might stay around awhile.

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