Pistol offense

The pistol offense is an American football formation and strategy partially developed by Chris Ault in 2005 while he was head coach at the University of Nevada. It is a hybrid of the traditional shotgun and single back offenses. In the pistol offense, also commonly referred to as the "pistol formation", the quarterback lines up four yards behind the center, which is much closer than the seven-yard setback in a traditional shotgun formation. The running back then lines up three yards directly behind the quarterback, which is in contrast to the shotgun, where they are beside each other. It is argued that the position of the quarterback in the pistol formation strikes an advantageous compromise: the quarterback is close enough to the line of scrimmage to be able to read the defense, as with run situation sets such as the I formation, but far enough back to give him extra time and a better vision of the field for passing plays, as in the shotgun. The pistol formation is thus very versatile, particularly if the quarterback himself is a threat to run the ball, which makes it difficult for the defense to correctly anticipate the play. This flexibility is enhanced by the Read Option, where the quarterback reacts to the response of the defensive players to the snap, and makes a rapid decision whether to hand off the ball to the running back, keep it and complete a pass to a downfield receiver, or keep it and run himself.

Jerry Glanville invented and created the pistol formation in the 1990 season when he was the head coach for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. Glanville who innovated the "Red Gun" offense, featured 4 wide receivers spread across the field with the quarterback under center or in the shotgun. After running the Red Gun for 3 seasons with the Houston Oilers, Glanville noticed that the running back in the shotgun gave away the side the quarterback would half roll to. In training camp in his first year with the Falcons, Glanville moved the running back directly behind quarterback in the shotgun thus creating the "Pistol" formation. The Falcons would use it at various times during the 1990 season only passing out of the formation. The formation was dropped after Glanville gave the offense to June Jones in 1991.

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