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FOXBORO - It was only fitting that, because the Miami Dolphins' "Wildcat formation" debuted against the Patriots with unimaginable success two months ago, almost all of the questions directed at Patriots' coach Bill Belichick in Monday's conference call had something to do with it.

Only now, the hype may exceed the actual importance of the gimmicky play.

"It's definitely part of their offense they run it every week," Belichick said as he began his week of preparation for the rematch with the Dolphins Sunday in Miami (1 p.m.; Ch. 4, 12). "It's still hard to stop. You can look at any good offensive team in this league or any league and they will run the same plays every week and that doesn't mean they get stopped. They continue to work because they have great players, great execution and that is true at Miami.

"Not every play is an 80-yard touchdown, but they consistently get production out of just about everything they are doing with that package, and they change it up from week to week," he added.

The Patriots were fooled early and often in their Week 3 loss to Miami by the "Wildcat" - which is credited as being the brainchild of Miami quarterbacks coach David Lee from his tenure at the University of Arkansas, but has been around in one form or another since the days before leather helmets - but the more people see of it, the less they're being fooled when the ball is snapped directly to a running back. A quick look at the play-by-play book from Sunday's 17-15 Miami win over Oakland indicates that the Dolphins ran plays out of the Wildcat 11 times in the game, one of which was negated by a penalty.

The 10 valid plays gained 52 yards, still not a bad average per gain. Ronnie Brown took seven of the direct snaps and Ricky Williams three. On two of Brown's snaps he handed the ball off to Williams, and on the other five, he kept it himself.

Brown gained 29 yards off five direct-snap runs (but also lost the ball at the end of an 11-yard run). He handed off to Williams twice for 7 yards, and Williams ran direct snaps himself three times for 16 yards.

But the telling factor? On only one of Miami's scoring drives was the play used effectively, in a third-quarter drive that led to a touchdown. The Dolphins did not use the gimmick on their drive to a game-winning field goal in the fourth quarter. And only four times did the Wildcat play pick up 5 yards or more.

Given that the Raiders' defense will not be mistaken soon for that of the 1985 Chicago Bears, it appears that as more coaches see the Wildcat in action, the easier it becomes for them to figure out ways to transform it into little more than an aggravated tabby.

Still, the Patriots will have to spend valuable time working on Wildcat plays as well as the more traditional ones in the Miami playbook. That may be the true value of the Wildcat as the season wears on, the demand it makes on an opposing coach in terms of game-planning and preparation.

"When it's combined with everything else, it's another log on the fire and one more thing that you have to work on, make adjustments to and deal with along with a lot of other things," Belichick said. "Sometimes it runs together or your execution just isn't as good because you aren't able to allocate the amount of time to it that they have over the course of the season and they execute it better than you do.

"It's all very challenging and they have done a good job with it," he said. "I don't think the plays by themselves are necessarily the answer to revolutionizing the game, but I think the execution and integration of certain plays in with other things offensively that they do makes them a hard team to defend."

Belichick said there has been evidence in new wrinkles in what Miami does out of the Wildcat, but he can only coach on the basis of what he has seen, now what he thinks might develop further from it.

"You have to defend what they have done," he said. "You might take into account something you think they'll do if you have some evidence of it, but I don't think you want to just be throwing up plays and taking a stab in the dark about what they could be dreaming up. I don't think that is really a good utilization of time. But, you have to stop what they have done, and there is plenty of that." While there were no pass attempts thrown out of the Wildcat against Oakland, that's always another possibility. Quarterback Chad Pennington, who usually lines up as a wide receiver on Wildcat plays, has thrown a flea-flicker score out of it, but Belichick doesn't expect to see the Dolphins sending their signal-caller out on pass patterns.

"I don't think the idea is to get him the ball too many times as a receiver," he said. "I would say out of all the things that you have to defend, that would be at the bottom of the list."

MARK FARINELLA may be reached at 508-236-0315 or via e-mail at mfarinel@thesunchronicle.com. Read Farinella's blog, "Blogging Fearlessly," at thesunchronicle.com/farinella.