• By SHELDON MICKLES
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Oct 27, 2009

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MIAMI — Almost lost in the New Orleans Saints’ stirring comeback win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday was the fact the Saints turned the Dolphins’ ballyhooed Wildcat into a Mildcat.

Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and his group did what no other defense could do this season, holding the Dolphins to just 29 rushing yards on 14 attempts out of the Wildcat formation, an offshoot of the old single-wing where a running back takes a direct snap from center and basically runs the option.

All told, the Saints held the Dolphins to 2 yards or less on eight of their 14 runs out of the Wildcat, with three of them netting negative yardage.

In the four games where they ran it more than once so far this season, the Dolphins averaged between 6.0 and 8.9 yards per rush. But the Saints held them to a scant 2.1 yards per carry even though the Dolphins scored three TDs off the formation — with former Saint Ricky Williams getting two of them.

The Saints held Ronnie Brown, who usually takes the snap in the Wildcat, to 26 yards on nine carries, while Williams managed 6 yards on four tries even though he did have a 68-yard TD scamper on a quick toss from quarterback Chad Henne.

“We were in a situation where we were able to be effective on some plays,” Brown said. “Obviously, they had some success on a few of them. We just tried to do different things to mix it up and keep them off guard a little.”

“I thought we did a very good job against the Wildcat,” Saints middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. “We did a good job against them, but you have to take your hats off to them because they know how to run the ball.”

The No. 1 seed

Saints coach Sean Payton was asked after Sunday’s wild win about being the only undefeated team remaining in the NFC and being the top seed at 6-0. The problem with that, of course, is that top seeds aren’t awarded nor are playoff berths handed out six games into the season.

“Well, it’s not the BCS,” Payton said. “In the BCS, you have to pay attention to that, but it means nothing after six weeks.

“The Alabamas and the LSUs and the Ohio States, it means something for them. But it doesn’t mean anything for us.”

Scoring bonanza

The Saints have scored 238 points in their six games, which is the second most in NFL history after that many contests. The only team to score more was the 2000 St. Louis Rams, who scored 262 points in going 6-0.