With the amount of attention it seems the Miami Dolphins’ Wildcat offensive package receives, you’d sometimes think they invented the forward pass, not simply popularized the single-wing formation that has been in use for decades.

But regardless of how retro it is, the Wildcat becomes a hot topic around these parts this week, as the Patriots are preparing for their first meeting of the season with Miami and thus the Wildcat.

Few New England fans need to be reminded of the team’s first encounter with the scheme: in Week 3 last season, Miami introduced it on the road against the Pats, and left Foxboro with a 38-13 victory, confounding the home team with running back Ronnie Brown lining up under center and quarterback Chad Pennington at times split wide.

Not surprisingly, in the teams’ second meeting last year, New England tamed the Wildcat.

Miami continues to use the scheme, and isn’t afraid to pull it out in pressure situations; against the Jets three weeks ago (the Monday night game), the Dolphins used it in the shadow of the goal line for their game-winning touchdown.

So once again, taking care of the Wildcat is a priority for New England. But as Pats’ head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Dean Pees spoke during conference calls on Monday, they stressed that attention to the details of opponents is a focus every week.

“What you do when you’re playing a team (is) you really just kind of focus on just that team you’re playing and how they run their particular offense or particular sets,” Pees said. “You also look at teams they’ve played and the success or lack of success they’ve had playing certain fronts or certain coverages or certain techniques. Everybody always tries to look at what you can do to help yourself stop the team, but I think if you’re watching somebody else’s Wildcat…it can be totally different with two different teams. What one team does could just be so entirely different than the way another team runs that same formation, so I think you always really study the team you’re playing and what they want to do from it and their personnel.”

Belichick was asked about how much time his team will spend preparing for the Wildcat this week, and he said there is no cut-and-dried figure.

“That’s always a tough decision. It’s not always used in the same percentages; the better it’s going, the more you’re going to see it,” Belichick said, mentioning the Dolphins’ game against Indianapolis in Week 2, when they didn’t use the Wildcat too many times.

“I think the most important thing is that we’re sound on it and we’re prepared for it. If we (see) it, we at least know how to play it and the different things that come out of it, but they certainly do a lot of other offensive groups, formations and personnel groupings besides that and we have to be ready for all of those. It’s certainly a challenging aspect to the whole preparation process.”

Due to their bye week, New England will have four days of practice leading up to the Miami game, instead of the usual three. Belichick seemed happy to have the extra time to get ready for their AFC East foe.

But beating Miami isn’t just about slowing down the Wildcat; on Sunday, the Jets had better success in their rematch with the Dolphins, holding them to just 104 yards of total offense. New York did well with that, but Miami had two special-teams touchdowns and a third on defense, which led to a New York loss.

“Obviously (the Jets) held them yardage-wise very, very well,” Pees said. “It’s hard to believe they lost the game after holding a team to 104 yards of total offense, but hey, you have to do all the things in every aspect of the game.”

So the Wildcat can be a problem, yes, but it is not the only problem Miami poses.

“When you see a team that has multiple personnel groups on offense, you always have to be sharp and our guys have to do a great job communicating, and obviously tackling is going to be an issue this week as it is every week,” Pees said. “You’re facing two excellent running backs; it doesn’t matter which of them has the ball. And receiver-wise, these guys can stretch the field.

“I think we’ll always have to be sharp and our communication has to be good.”

smanza@projo.com