Things could get even wilder with the Jets

CORTLAND, N.Y. — How will the New York Jets use quarterback Tim Tebow?

Will the Jets unveil a scheme that takes full advantage of his ability to run, or will Tebow simply be an occasional decoy and lightly used backup to starter Mark Sanchez?

Tony Sparano, the new Jets offensive coordinator, handles those questions the way he draws up a strategy.

With mystery and misdirection.

“I’m a quiet guy,” Sparano said with a coy smile. “Rex [Ryan, head coach] is the boss. He can put it out there.

“I think it is common knowledge that we might do something like that,” he said of letting Tebow run. “ I’m more concerned about letting them worry about it than giving them the answers to the test. With the guy that we have, obviously it’s going to be out there that we’re going to do something like that. The ‘how’ is the question.”

As head coach of the Miami Dolphins, Sparano was the father of the NFL’s modern wildcat offense, a spinoff of the old single-wing formation in which, in basic terms, the ball can be snapped to the quarterback or directly to the running back.

Four years ago, as the rookie head coach in Miami, Sparano used the element of surprise to unveil the wildcat — loaded with direct snaps to running back Ronnie Brown — and went 11-5 with a team that had finished 1-15 a season earlier.

The league’s other 31 teams responded in copycat fashion, devising their own version of the wildcat to sprinkle in from time to time. Defenses adjusted, and the strategy has faded by the year. Sparano’s Dolphins went 18-27 after 2008 before he was fired last season.

Though other franchises have phased out the scheme, the Jets have dropped big hints they will embrace it — or the threat of it — to keep opposing defenses on their toes.

On Monday, in a training camp session that was closed to the public, the Jets held their most intensive wildcat practice of the summer. They restricted reporters on hand from tweeting what they saw.

“That’s the thing about Coach Sparano, he’s someone that is extremely creative, extremely passionate, and he’s going to do whatever it takes to win,” Tebow said after the practice. “It’s not same-old, same-old with him; he’s continually talking about new things, looking at new things, and I think that’s the sign of a great coach.”

Said Sanchez of the wildcat: “I think it can be a weapon. I think if you run it the right way like Coach Sparano will do, we can get explosive with it. We have some great athletes and we want to use all of their talents.”

Over the weekend, after the exhibition opener at Cincinnati, Ryan disclosed he had gotten a call from Marvin Lewis on the morning of the game, with the Bengals coach wanting to know if the Jets were going to use the wildcat that night. From Ryan’s perspective, Lewis was concerned about it.

“Some people think the wildcat has come and gone,” Ryan said. “If anything, it’s just the opposite.”

Rather than simply making an impulsive move, Ryan said, the Jets had a plan in mind when they traded for Tebow. They were looking to replace Brad Smith, their former wildcat quarterback, whom they lost in free agency to Buffalo.

Additionally, Ryan disclosed the Jets had had their sights set on fleet-footed quarterback Colin Kaepernick in the 2011 draft before he was selected by San Francisco.

“I was really intrigued by him when he came out because I thought we were losing Brad,” Ryan said of Kaepernick, who scored on a 78-yard keeper last Friday in San Francisco’s exhibition opener against Minnesota. “They drafted him before we could. I was interested in him.… So you are seeing these guys. It’s hard to defend some of that stuff, and when you have the ability to throw as well as run, it makes it tough.”

Of course, part of the effectiveness of the wildcat comes not on Sunday, but during the week before, when an opposing defense has to set aside practice time to work on it.

New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck was asked about it this week, in advance of Saturday’s exhibition game against the Jets.

Tuck, for one, doesn’t sound too worried about the scheme, or about the ability of the Giants to corral the Jets’ new backup quarterback — exhibition or not.

“I’m just eager to play the game,” he said. “And fortunately for us, that involves Tebow.”

sam.farmer@latimes.com

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