Gimmick Plays

Being a long time Miami Dolphins fan I was ecstatic to watch my Fins beat those trash talking Jets, who not to long ago was the talk of the NFL. Now they’ve come down to earth and are 3-2 while the Fins have reminded the NFL that they are still the same team that made the playoffs a year ago. So don’t sleep on the Fins.

With so many great story lines to discuss like the resurrection of Braylon Edwards or the great individual effort by Chad Henne, what caught my attention wasn’t the game but the comments made by Rex Ryan after the loss. In short, he mentioned that he couldn’t believe that his team was beat by a “gimmick”. Initially, I didn’t take this as a slight because a win is a win, however, as I listened to Around the Horn on my hike to class it seemed to me that gimmick was a negative term and was used to put down the Fins. So I asked myself after hearing the rambling chatter, “what is a gimmick anyway”. Their reaction got me intrigued so I decided to look up the definition of a gimmick and found on Dictionary.com that the Wildcat offense is a gimmick because it’s, “an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, esp. one designed to attract attention or increase appeal”. I agree with Rex. The Fins new offense is a brilliant plan that has led them to successful win over those old fashioned, run of the mill Jets. Who knew that learning new words could be so fun.