The Pistol

[SonOfEd]

I like Utah State's playbook. Has 3 pistol sets, along w/ an ace, Flexbone, Wishbone, and a large selection of Shotgun.
You can really have a diverse gameplan with this playbook- Read option, triple option, quick look passing, etc.

[Scrapps]

Quote: Originally Posted by SonOfEd

I like Utah State's playbook. Has 3 pistol sets, along w/ an ace, Flexbone, Wishbone, and a large selection of Shotgun. You can really have a diverse gameplan with this playbook- Read option, triple option, quick look passing, etc.

Does it have some I-formation? Am big on the power O plays and counters. Does this playbook have them? What about screens?

[blakty]

I'm partial to Ball State's playbook. Has 4 pistol sets and alot of other solid formations. It's a one-back offense, though I treat it as a multiple as I don't run it THAT much.

[SonOfEd]

Quote: Originally Posted by Scrapps

Does it have some I-formation? Am big on the power O plays and counters. Does this playbook have them? What about screens?

It does have 1 I-formation, I-Form Slot, I believe. Some Power O, and counters. WR Mid screen out of the Shotgun can be very effective after beating them up on the run.
LSU's playbook gives you a lot of power from the I-Form, and also has 2 Pistols. I just haven't used it enough.
Also, Florida's playbook is pretty nice. 1 Pistol (H-Slot) 2 I-forms, and obviously a run heavy/ wildcat offense in the Shotgun. Their goaline package is nice also, as it has 3 different formations in it: Normal, Maryland I, and Wishbone.

[KingV2k3]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlastX21

I'm going to play the devil's advocate and say I dont find the Pistol that useful. First off, the handoff is painfully slow. This gives the DL extra time to get off blocks. Secondly, there isnt as much room for cutbacks and direction changes as compared to other formations, because the back gets the ball about 4 yards behind the LOS compared to 5 or 6 for Ace or shotgun. Finally, the read option animations are SO slow in the pistol. If the QB fakes it and runs, the animation and acceleration are so slow that by the time you get ready to take the corner, the DE and OLB are waiting for you. Thats just my personal experience.

Quote: Originally Posted by WatsonTiger

It makes running a straight up read-option much easier. Also, if the defense starts keying on what side you're running to and is in man coverage, just flip it and read the SS for an easy TD. I don't like the rest of it because at some point you're going to hit a wall and most Pistol playbooks lack big plays, especially passes. If you want a effective pass play, it's either a PA Rollout or curls/flats (which you can only run so many times a game before routes start getting jumped) edit: Jeremy has a good point with the TE/WR-LB mismatch thing, but there's still little "big play" potential

I'm running a dynasty with UCLA and a variety of the Pistol Books...

So far:

1) That "delay" in the QB / HB exchange is killing my inside run game

2) Too many 2 TE and not enough 3 WR sets

3) Not enough "big play" capability in the pass game

After running Air Raid and Run and Shoot, maybe it's just an adjustment to such a change, but it has been quite a challenge...

Forget playing "catch up", too...

Anyway:

I'd like to get the FB involved...

I can't seem to locate the playbooks and formations that have a Pistol / FB...

Am I imagining it, or did I see that somewhere?

Thanks!

[sleepyeagle]

USF has a spread playbook that has one pistol formation with 3 WR, 1 FB, and 1 HB. It's a nice change up, but I don't like running the pistol for the whole game. Having the FB in this formation makes the counters and options a little better though.

[jbrew2411]

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...ble-logic.html

Check out this thread and read through pages 6-8 and you will see why you are having problems running the Pistol.

[Bellsprout]

Am I the only one that the read option works for out of the Pistol?

I'm running it with Baylor and I've made plenty of big plays with Robert Griffin running the read. Plenty of big plays with Jay Finley, too. Sure, you get stuffed sometimes, mostly because the defense seems to play it right a decent amount of the time if you start running it a lot, but I run that play A LOT and it seems to work a fair amount of times for me.

I think I'm using Playmakers' sliders, if that makes a difference.