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Formations in a Pistol Offense?

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Old 01-18-2015, 04:43 PM   #1
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Formations in a Pistol Offense?

Alright, so I'm currently creating a Teambuilder school that I hope to start a dynasty with and, while I was finishing up the team/rosters, I decided to create their own offensive playbook (and maybe defensive playbook as well). I decided to try out a Pistol offense for the team. However, since I usually stick to a Pro or Spread offense for my teams, I'm not exactly sure what formations a Pistol offense usually use. Is it all Pistol formations with a few Shotgun formations thrown or do they use all types of formations in a Pistol playbook? I've looked at the Pistol playbooks in the game and other Pistol playbooks others have made, but I'm still not sure what formations I should go with.

Can anyone give me a good idea of what formations a Pistol offense usually runs with? Is it mainly a run or pass offense? How do you run a successful Pistol offense?
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Old 01-18-2015, 09:52 PM   #2
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Re: Formations in a Pistol Offense?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ALG
Alright, so I'm currently creating a Teambuilder school that I hope to start a dynasty with and, while I was finishing up the team/rosters, I decided to create their own offensive playbook (and maybe defensive playbook as well). I decided to try out a Pistol offense for the team. However, since I usually stick to a Pro or Spread offense for my teams, I'm not exactly sure what formations a Pistol offense usually use. Is it all Pistol formations with a few Shotgun formations thrown or do they use all types of formations in a Pistol playbook? I've looked at the Pistol playbooks in the game and other Pistol playbooks others have made, but I'm still not sure what formations I should go with.

Can anyone give me a good idea of what formations a Pistol offense usually runs with? Is it mainly a run or pass offense? How do you run a successful Pistol offense?
I feel like I can help you here since I created and ran my own Pistol offense for the high school teams I coached for 10 years. The Pistol was created by Chris Ault, former Nevada head coach. The design of the offense was simple move the QB closer to center then when in shotgun to allow for a run game similar to a pro style offense. The offense is built around the run game and incorporating the read. What offense does is allows the tailback to be moving forward when he receives the handoff, much like a back in a I formation, thus allowing them to hit the line/hole at full speed. In a more spread offense the back gets the ball while standing next to the QB and not moving forward yet. In the Pistol the back can also see holes quicker and see more of the D since he is deeper then in the gun, he is about 10 yards from the line.

Most teams don't run a full Pistol offense so their play books have some Pistol formations mixed with others. The play book Ault used at Nevada that Kapernick played in was 100% Pistol. If you want to run the Pistol then you have the best concepts of several play books. You can run power formations with a fullback or tightend lined up in different places. You can run the read since the QB is not under center. You can also spread teams out with 3-5 receivers. Since your QB is already where a under center QB would be on a 3 step drop you can run some quick hitting passes like screens and slants.

The Pistol is real what would happen if the I-form(Pro), spread, spread option, and one back all mixed DNA and had a baby. It would come out with features of all of them but looking just a little different.
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Old 01-18-2015, 11:09 PM   #3
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Re: Formations in a Pistol Offense?

Pistol Trips and Trio is almost unfair in this game.

***Audibles
Y - Smash
A - TE In
X - Inside Cross

RB - Lead Option
LB - HB Counter

***Passing plays
SMASH - If the defense is playing tight man coverage the Y receiver should be open after his outward cut. I like to hot route X to a slant across the middle just for a backup in case Y is getting jammed at the line to long. Also if you see B gets inside position on his defender throw it to him leading him to the middle.

TE In - If the defense comes out in zone with two defenders to the side you have the three receivers audible to this play and hit Y if he is not covered. If the defense lines up in man (3 on 3) and the outside CB is playing off (more than 6 yards) X will be wide open when me makes is cut back to you.

Inside Cross - This is just a solid pass play with multiple crossing routes.

***Running Plays
Lead Option - if the defense has one guy to the open side of the field call this play and destroy him.

HB Counter - This is actually a very good running play. You will have the backside guard and tackle pulling to lead the way. If the defense has a couple guys lined up to the open side of the field this play is actually really good to run to the side you have three WR's. You will be outnumbering the defense at the point of attack and should get a solid 4-10 yards.

As a base play you can come out in Read Option, if you have a single guy lined up on the open side you will want to look at the middle, if it is stacked audible to the Lead Option, if it is pretty sparse just blow them up with the read option.

Your quick audibles have Verticals for your deep pass, slants for your short pass, PA HB Flat for the play action pass and HB Drive for your middle running play.

Once you get good at reading defenses these 10 plays (5 audibles, 4 quick audibles, 1 base play) will be the base of what you run. Once you get where you can know what to audible to and when start changing your base play to something outside your 9 audibles to expand what you are running. X Spot with the outside receiver on a slant is another favorite base play of mine.
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Last edited by PocketScout; 01-18-2015 at 11:13 PM.
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Old 01-18-2015, 11:13 PM   #4
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Re: Formations in a Pistol Offense?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jbrew2411
I feel like I can help you here since I created and ran my own Pistol offense for the high school teams I coached for 10 years. The Pistol was created by Chris Ault, former Nevada head coach. The design of the offense was simple move the QB closer to center then when in shotgun to allow for a run game similar to a pro style offense. The offense is built around the run game and incorporating the read. What offense does is allows the tailback to be moving forward when he receives the handoff, much like a back in a I formation, thus allowing them to hit the line/hole at full speed. In a more spread offense the back gets the ball while standing next to the QB and not moving forward yet. In the Pistol the back can also see holes quicker and see more of the D since he is deeper then in the gun, he is about 10 yards from the line.

Most teams don't run a full Pistol offense so their play books have some Pistol formations mixed with others. The play book Ault used at Nevada that Kapernick played in was 100% Pistol. If you want to run the Pistol then you have the best concepts of several play books. You can run power formations with a fullback or tightend lined up in different places. You can run the read since the QB is not under center. You can also spread teams out with 3-5 receivers. Since your QB is already where a under center QB would be on a 3 step drop you can run some quick hitting passes like screens and slants.

The Pistol is real what would happen if the I-form(Pro), spread, spread option, and one back all mixed DNA and had a baby. It would come out with features of all of them but looking just a little different.
Wow, this was a very helpful post. Thank you! I will admit, I have never coached and don't ever plan on coaching nor have I played football in real life, so I'm clueless about the aspects of the game outside of he game itself such as coaching.

Reading this, I highly doubt I'll run a 100% Pistol as you mentioned Nevada did with Kapernick. I'm a fan of scrambling QBs so I might try to combine a Pistol offense with the Spread offense. Maybe, I don't know. We'll see what I can figure out. Thank you again!

Quote:
Originally Posted by PocketScout
Pistol Trips and Trio is almost unfair in this game.

***Audibles
Y - Smash
A - TE In
X - Inside Cross

RB - Lead Option
LB - HB Counter

***Passing plays
SMASH - If the defense is playing tight man coverage the Y receiver should be open after his outward cut. I like to hot route X to a slant across the middle just for a backup in case Y is getting jammed at the line to long. Also if you see B gets inside position on his defender throw it to him leading him to the middle.

TE In - If the defense comes out in zone with two defenders to the side you have the three receivers audible to this play and hit Y if he is not covered. If the defense lines up in man (3 on 3) and the outside CB is playing off (more than 6 yards) X will be wide open when me makes is cut back to you.

Inside Cross - This is just a solid pass play with multiple crossing routes.

***Running Plays
Lead Option - if the defense has one guy to the open side of the field call this play and destroy him.

HB Counter - This is actually a very good running play. You will have the backside guard and tackle pulling to lead the way. If the defense has a couple guys lined up to the open side of the field this play is actually really good to run to the side you have three WR's. You will be outnumbering the defense at the point of attack and should get a solid 4-10 yards.

As a base play you can come out in Read Option, if you have a single guy lined up on the open side you will want to look at the middle, if it is stacked audible to the Lead Option, if it is pretty sparse just blow them up with the read option.

Your quick audibles have Verticals for your deep pass, slants for your short pass, PA HB Flat for the play action pass and HB Drive for your middle running play.

Once you get good at reading defenses these 10 plays (5 audibles, 4 quick audibles, 1 base play) will be the base of what you run. Once you get where you can know what to audible to and when start changing your base play to something outside your 9 audibles to expand what you are running. X Spot with the outside receiver on a slant is another favorite base play of mine.
Unfair? I'm not a big sim style player (think that's the correct term), but I try to stay away from any overpowered plays/formations/whatever in this game.

But thank you for the tips. I'll check it out tomorrow and practice with the plays and formations.

Last edited by ALG; 01-18-2015 at 11:18 PM.
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Old 01-18-2015, 11:29 PM   #5
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Re: Formations in a Pistol Offense?

Since NCAA 2012 I have been figuring out how to create an offense that is a real PITA to stop. Myself and 3 buddies get together about once a month and drink and play for the evening and it was designed to give them all fits, I must say it works great for that. In my dynasty I do not use it near as much as I have been trying to build another setup that is just as potent, but as of right now when it is game night with my friends Pistol Trips/Trio comes out

The unfair part is you have 10 plays that look exactly the same to the defense but they have no clue what you are about to do, you get to see their alignment and change to the right play to attack them, but the formation still looks the same to them. Very hard to defend.
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Last edited by PocketScout; 01-18-2015 at 11:31 PM.
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Old 01-18-2015, 11:43 PM   #6
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Re: Formations in a Pistol Offense?

Quote:
Originally Posted by PocketScout
Since NCAA 2012 I have been figuring out how to create an offense that is a real PITA to stop. Myself and 3 buddies get together about once a month and drink and play for the evening and it was designed to give them all fits, I must say it works great for that. In my dynasty I do not use it near as much as I have been trying to build another setup that is just as potent, but as of right now when it is game night with my friends Pistol Trips/Trio comes out

The unfair part is you have 10 plays that look exactly the same to the defense but they have no clue what you are about to do, you get to see their alignment and change to the right play to attack them, but the formation still looks the same to them. Very hard to defend.
That actually sounds like something I do when I play with my friends. Find something that works for me and keep doing it since they can never figure out how to stop it. Guess you can call it 'cheating' or whatever, but it's only with my friends and I never do it against the AI.

Oh, alright, I get you. That actually seems pretty realistic, I always hear about how offenses change up the play before the snap once they see what defense plays.
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Old 01-19-2015, 08:45 PM   #7
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Re: Formations in a Pistol Offense?

I never go with a full Pistol play book in the game. I do have a few sets in my book because I like to recruit 2 different types of QBs at a time. I like the pocket passer to run my I, One back, and Gun formations. I then like a good running QB to run my Pistol sets to use on 2 drives per game for a change of pace.
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Old 01-19-2015, 11:35 PM   #8
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Re: Formations in a Pistol Offense?

My last offense was primarily pistol based and I found that with a reasonably powerful running back I was able to mount a consistent run game without having stellar players. I'm currently running a power O, more dual TE based run game that is great for getting big gains and not always very good at consistently getting average gains. The pistol was good because it allowed me to spread a defense out while still able to maintain a downhill running game.
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