Late night bullshit: The Pistol Offense 101

[Sorter]

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Paging Sorter, and anybody else on this board with high football acumen.

This thread is about all things Pistol. It seems the Chiefs are going with a WCO/pistol hybrid offense with Alex Smith.

What is the pistol offense? What's it's core philosophy?

What kind of personnel do you need for it?

Why is it argued that Alex Smith would be a good fit for it, i.e. what about his skillset makes him a good match for it?

What does a defense generally need to do to shut it down?

Rep for any and all useful answers that illuminate the issue for yours truly.

As far as this is concerned, the pistol's "core philosophy" is to slow down defense reaction time and confuse (by utilizing a RB behind the QB). The main run plays you'll see will vary depending on O philosophy but there is generally a high utilization of Jab, stretch, inside zone, and power plays (sounds like nearly every offense). However, the beauty behind it with a mobile QB is that you can incorporate a jab play + a ZR passing option, which completely ****s over a defense mentally. They have to account for weak side/counter runs, QBs that can run, and deal with PA. Additionally, as you see with Harbaugh, the incorporation of Jab+Power plays really ****s with ILBs/S when they can't commit downhill to guard pulls.

As far as personnel, it really depends on your philosophy. Are you going to incorporate the ZR/do you have a mobile QB, etc. You can run it without using the ZR and it still confuses defenses simply due to the physical alignment of the RB. Additionally, you can come out with "Diamond" looks that allow you to vary your personnel packages from "heavy" to 2RB/1TE/2WR looks from the same alignment.

Any QB is a good fit for it depending on the playcalling, structure, etc. Alex could be a good fit and allow ZR options on plays due to his speed. He's underrated as a runner but nobody's confusing him with RG3. Think Aaron Rodgers.

To shut down the "pistol" is like asking "How do you shut down 1-on slot?". Shutting down a formation is impossible. Shutting down plays out of it is an entirely different matter.

[Aspengc8]

Originally Posted by Ponderception

As far as this is concerned, the pistol's "core philosophy" is to slow down defense reaction time and confuse (by utilizing a RB behind the QB). The main run plays you'll see will vary depending on O philosophy but there is generally a high utilization of Jab, stretch, inside zone, and power plays (sounds like nearly every offense). However, the beauty behind it with a mobile QB is that you can incorporate a jab play + a ZR passing option, which completely ****s over a defense mentally. They have to account for weak side/counter runs, QBs that can run, and deal with PA. Additionally, as you see with Harbaugh, the incorporation of Jab+Power plays really ****s with ILBs/S when they can't commit downhill to guard pulls.

As far as personnel, it really depends on your philosophy. Are you going to incorporate the ZR/do you have a mobile QB, etc. You can run it without using the ZR and it still confuses defenses simply due to the physical alignment of the RB. Additionally, you can come out with "Diamond" looks that allow you to vary your personnel packages from "heavy" to 2RB/1TE/2WR looks from the same alignment.

Any QB is a good fit for it depending on the playcalling, structure, etc. Alex could be a good fit and allow ZR options on plays due to his speed. He's underrated as a runner but nobody's confusing him with RG3. Think Aaron Rodgers.

To shut down the "pistol" is like asking "How do you shut down 1-on slot?". Shutting down a formation is impossible. Shutting down plays out of it is an entirely different matter.

This is good info. The pistol is really just a formation, and you can run almost any offensive philosophy behind it. One of the main benefits of pistol over shotgun is the ability to sell run action better, because the QB turns his back (reverse out, hiding the ball). We played against 2 teams from NYC when I was playing minor league, that ran this shit. Very annoying to read.