The Pistol offense is the NFL’s next frontier

Getty Images

How Pistol offense is coming back in style in the NFL

NFL defenses have begun to catch up to NFL offenses in the battle for supremacy on the football field. Points per game were at their lowest last season since 2017, according to Pro Football Reference, and passing yards per game in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons hovered around 218 yards, the lowest since 2009.

As defenses began to take away explosive plays, offenses had to focus on getting defenses out of two-high shells via quick underneath passing and the run game. The biggest problem there is that some of the passing game and run game concepts aren’t easily run together out of shotgun. Unless you have a mobile quarterback, the shotgun runs are largely kept to inside zone, duo, counter, and some pin and pull action, making it really hard to truly get downhill in the run game. On the flip side, most NFL teams probably aren’t running a massive buffet of expansive RPOs from under center. Of course we know the Dolphins might be the only exception, but for the most part it becomes a shotgun-only ordeal.

This leaves NFL offenses at a crossroads and facing a siloing that leaves them predictable. However, there’s one solution on the horizon, and it comes in the form of the pistol offense.

What is the pistol offense?

Let’s take it back to Reno, Nev., in 2004. Nevada head football coach Chris Ault needed a way to stay in shotgun for his quarterback, but still wanted to use the same disciplines in his zone and gap blocking that he used under center. While it led to some very effective offenses, it really took off when QB Colin Kaepernick came to Nevada and used the zone read out of the pistol formation. Combining that downhill run game with the explosiveness of a mobile QB quickly made the pistol offense take off, and eventually the formation found its way into the NFL.

While on The Athletic Football Show with Robert Mays, Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay talked about their uptick in usage of the pistol offense, and this line really stood out to me (via The Athletic’s Alec Lewis):

“(The pistol) gave us the ability to activate different parts of our offense that maybe we would typically only run out of our shotgun. And I thought there were some things about the run game, the phasing and spacing, that was similar to being (under center).”

This is the beautiful part of the pistol offense. What makes it different is the placement of the quarterback pre-snap. Every QB and their grandmother knows how to operate out of shotgun now, and being able to see the field that way is more beneficial to the passing game. But, by keeping the running back behind the QB as if you’re under center, you can still do some of the same types of runs such as power and counter, with the vision still being the same for the RB. It’s the best of both worlds, a mixture of the shotgun passing elements of modern football and the run-pass option, while getting ballcarriers to the hole quicker with run game concepts that are common from under center.

In addition, your mobile QB will love the pistol offense, because it allows you to use his legs much like the shotgun offense, while keeping the under center run game concepts in the tuck. Teams like the Atlanta Falcons (now Pittsburgh Steelers with Arthur Smith calling plays), the Miami Dolphins, and Los Angeles Rams all used the offense to much success in 2023 and it could be a precursor for things to come in offensive meeting rooms in 2024. It allowed Atlanta to get downhill with their run game, finishing ninth in EPA per rush out of pistol, compared to 23rd in that same metric out of singleback, under center formations. Miami leveraged their speed and used the pistol offense to create poor angles, leading to 5.9 yards per carry running out of pistol. In a world where RPOs are trying to mesh with downhill running, the pistol offense might offer the best solution.

Pistol usage was up around the NFL last season, a needed curveball after NFL defenses spent most of the 2023 season punching back. This chart is from the 2023 NFL season via Pro Football Focus, with the league average sitting at around five percent.

33rd Team’s Dan Pizzuta noticed that the pistol offense was at its broadest usage since 2013, when Robert Griffin III was obliterating defenses with it. Naturally, one of the people on that coaching staff was Sean McVay, who is now using the pistol offense to stay on the cutting edge of NFL offense. In order to understand why the pistol offense is going to cause problems for NFL defenses in 2024, we gotta go back a few steps.

Run game versatility

In 2022, I wrote about how the run game was being revived in the NFL, after years of passing offenses absolutely shredding the league. One of the major things that was noted in that piece was the rise of five-man fronts across NFL defenses. These fronts are designed to take away any cutback lanes that would show up with outside zone runs, and funnel everything to the edge, where the speed of the defense can rally to make the tackle. The answer to this is using gap scheme runs like power and counter, but it’s extremely difficult to run those concepts out of shotgun.

In pistol, there’s more variety in the run game, and you can really get at opposing defenses, instead of trying to run around them. If everyone wants to play a 220-pound former safety at linebacker, just hit them in the mouth.

For offensive linemen, the angles and aiming points are different in shotgun vs. under center. With the pistol, the offensive line’s aiming points are the same as they are under center. This means that the angles they take and where the back looks to run is almost a mirror image of being under center, giving offenses more versatility in the run game.

The Ravens’ here pull the center and left tackle around, but watch what it does to the Texans’ defense. Houston finished the 2023 season sixth in EPA per run allowed when defending outside zone, and that’s mainly because of how wide they play their defensive front and how far upfield they get. They’re able to create cutbacks where backs don’t want them to be because of how far upfield they get. Baltimore decided to take a hammer to that.

Look at the lane that’s created for Gus Edwards. He’s able to get momentum coming downhill and see the lane coming open in a much better way than he could in shotgun. Tampa Bay’s Rachaad White is able to hit this hole so hard on this zone run out of pistol, mainly because he can see the cutback lane much quicker. Even using the staple zone runs that most of the Shanahan/McVay disciples love to use, the pistol offense can be extremely effective.

The Rams in 2023 switched up their staple run concepts, going from outside zone based to incorporating more duo and counter runs. They didn’t have to sacrifice their expansive shotgun diet to do so, because they used the pistol. It creates the same angles and gets at opponents while still being in shotgun.

Watch this touchdown on the ground for LA. As the motion bumps all of the linebackers, you see the mid zone run unfolding. From the end zone angle, you can see the opening come open like you’re a Demon Slayer seeing the opening thread, and Williams cuts it back and scores. That play isn’t necessarily available in shotgun, but with pistol you can keep the shotgun passing footwork with the downhill run game.

In pistol the vision is different, with more time to see the field from 5 yards deep without the added stress of the ball in your hands than in shotgun, where you’re closer to the line of scrimmage and have the ball quicker. Obviously the best backs have great vision, but most guys can’t read the defense that quickly and make reactions based off of it. This is where the pistol offense comes in. Now with the back behind the QB, he has more of a runway to not only build up speed, but enough time to make cuts and use his vision in a better way. Defenses also use the back to set their defensive front, because again, options are limited in terms of run game out of shotgun. With the pistol, you can hide your intentions a bit more in the run game and keep the defense on their toes.

Remaining modern in the passing game

In Lewis’ piece about the pistol offense, he notes that Nevada head coach Chris Ault discussed why the pistol offense was so beneficial, and there are some overlaps with where the modern day NFL is going with QB instruction. One of the first things he notes is that that QB can run play action without having to turn his back to the defense. This is a huge aspect of the modern NFL game, where college signal callers come from almost exclusively shotgun environments with play action not requiring them to turn their back. Then, they get to the NFL where everyone is becoming an under-center, play-action offense where to sell the fake you have to turn your back to the defense, which allows coordinators to change the coverage shell post-snap and confuse QBs.

McVay and the Rams were able to use this pistol offense in passing situations so effectively because it allowed QB Matthew Stafford to do what he does best. While Stafford is certainly not as mobile as he once was, being in the pistol allows for the beautiful mesh between Stafford getting traditional dropback passing concepts and getting the blend of play action concepts a McVay offense is known for without having to test Stafford’s dwindling mobility.

This pass was an incompletion, but it perfectly illustrates the possibilities opened up using the pistol in the passing game. Because you can run so many downhill run concepts, the passing game opens up the middle of the field like a kid opening presents on Christmas. Look at how much grass is available after the play fake, and Stafford doesn’t have to turn his back to the defense, nor move too much off his spot.

This doesn’t mean that Stafford can’t do the traditional dropback stuff he loves, though. Stafford is a wizard with the ball in passing situations, and being in the pistol doesn’t force him to sacrifice that ability to see the field from shotgun and make passes like this, which break both mind and spirit.

In the world of punching and counter-punching that NFL offenses and defenses tend to do, it’s in the form of the pistol offense that teams might be able to get the best of both worlds (shoutout to Hannah Montana). As the cyclical nature of the sport flexes its’ muscle, offenses have to lean back into 2009 with Ault and Nevada in order to move forward in the battle for supremacy.

In this battle, though, the pistol might be the gamechanger it once was.