And we wonder ...

Sometimes it's pretty clear why some readers, players or coaches hold those of us in the Fourth Estate in low regard. Case in point:

As I was driving back from running a few errands today, listening to the newer of two sports-talk radio stations in Boston, one of the hosts (you can probably guess which one) was ranting on and on about how the Patriots were unprepared to face Miami's "Wildcat" offense, and how the "Wildcat" resulted in big gains, and so on, and so on.

Except ... the plays about which the host was ranting WEREN'T the "Wildcat."

He was complaining about the performance of the Patriots against what the Dolphins call the "Pistol," or the insertion of backup quarterback Pat White behind center to run an option offense that you can find in any high school playbook in America.

White sets up in shotgun formation, and he's got three immediate options -- either to fake a handoff and run, to fake running and hand off or pitch the ball to a trailing running back, or to throw (which is usually the least-used option),

It may be a little similar to the "Wildcat," where running back Ronnie Brown takes the direct snap from center and has similar options, but White is still technically a quarterback playing a quarterback's role. If he had three running backs behind him, it would be the Wishbone. One way or another, the Wildcat and Pistol are two distinctly different approaches, and even Patriots' coach Bill Belichick admitted that he had not prepared for the Pistol plays that the Dolphins trotted out Sunday.

The option is quite effective in the high school ranks because defensive players aren't as skilled at recognizing the feints of the QB before he hands off or decides to keep and run, and not athletic enough to make the adjustments in mid-play.

It was probably effective against the Patriots because not a lot of them have seen that particular form of the option run since their high school days, although they caught up pretty fast the more they saw of it. Perhaps the well-coiffed host would have recognized that if he had ever covered a high school football game in his life, but I get the feeling that he considers that level of sports coverage beneath him -- at least he did one day in the press box at Gillette when he scolded Danny Ventura of the Herald and me for chatting about the previous weekend's exciting high school games.

Too bad. At least I didn't confuse one offensive approach for another and pass that along to my readers. And to be honest, you don't need to be Vince Lombardi or Amos Alonzo Stagg to recognize the differences.