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One of the advantages of the Pistol not yet mentioned is that the tailback starts from the same 7 yards behind the LOS that he would in a conventional I. This is a big plus because the RB has the same amount of time to look for the hole as he would in the I but the defense cannot commit to an inside run quite as quickly because if they do the QB pulls the ball out and goes outside. OTOH, if the defense stays on the edge to shut down the QB going out, the OL now has a blocking advantage in the middle of the LOS. (the blocking advantage for the interior of the OL is significant) SF did this in the second half to Atlanta in the NFCC game last year and Gore gashed the Falcons big time.
Also, the Pistol creates a lot of gaps between the numbers for receivers. With so much focus being required now with an extra RB (QB) in the backfield, the LBs have to have their head on a swivel to watch for TEs crossing or going on wheel routes up the sideline.
Alex Smith did run quite a few plays last season from the Pistol prior to his concussion and was very smooth in doing so. After all, he ran something very similar at Utah as was noted by the earlier video.
Overall, things just happen a little bit quicker from the Pistol than from the I and the offense has one more weapon to attack from the ground. So while you never want your QB taking a lot of hits while running the ball, in most cases, when he does, he is not going to be gang tackled or absorb quite so many hard hits as a RB, at least if the reads it correctly.
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