Can anyone give a better description of a run and shoot offense than Wiki. The article gives more of a history of it than a description. Is it an all pass offense or uses a majority of passing compared to a running offense?
Thanks
I’ll take a stab. The run and shoot exploits mismatches in speed (the offensive receivers vs. the secondary). Four and five receiver sets make this a nightmare for defenses. Chances are you probably have one, or two decent corners but most defenses don’t have the speed to cover that many fast guys. (Of course they came up with the nickel and dime packages - five or six defensive backs, which effectively nullifies the speed advantage.)
Run and shoot offenses can have running running backs as opposed to an extra receiver. Problem is, in a run and shoot formation you don’t have tight ends to block. So the runner has to be fast and find gaps through which to run. I’d say the run and shoot isn’t used because defensive backs are much faster now; collegiate defensive players - safeties, corners, linebackers, and even line men are pretty fast today.
Actually, the wiki article is pretty good and is just like how I describe it. The key statements are" a) there are no TEs; b) 4 wide receivers; and, c) the pass sets up the run.
The idea is that you throw very often, and often with little huddle. Depending on what the RB is doing, you have up to 5 potential receivers, which often shreds zone coverage. Manning up on D is difficult because it is tiring for the defenders and following receivers on confusing patterns often lead to a lot of miscommunication and empty spaces on the field for QBs to to throw to. To solve this, defenses often go to dime packages and cover 3 formations, but this just really pulls defenders off the line, allowing the RB to get long easy yardage. Talented WRs make it risky for defenses to try and blitz, but at the NFL level, since all defenders are scary big and fast (which is another reason why you rarely see the option in the NFL – unless you’re Atlanta), it’s the blitz that really makes run and shoot (I like “gun”) not a championship offense.
(please excuse my over use of passive voice).
Hippy Hollow did a pretty good job. The run and shoot is a passing offense which tries to overwhelm defenses by flooding zones or exploiting mismatches in man coverage. Typically it uses four receivers and one running back, which as Hippy Hollow explained, makes it difficult to run the ball.
Here’s a link to a good article from Football Digest on the run-and-shoot’s history. There are plenty of other sites by and for coaches that go into more technical detail, like this one.
I also believe that the routes are timed so that the QB is “scheduled” to look at each of them
in turn, and if one guy isn’t open the QB then looks towards the “next” WR.
Pretty much every modern passing offense uses that concept. A quarterback progresses through his “reads”- the recievers/tight ends/running backs who are running routes on that play- in a predetermined sequence.
The Run n’ Shoot is a pass-first offense, but doesn’t always ignore run. Having forced the defense to put extra defensive backs on the field to keep up with all the wide recievers, the offense can then run the ball effectively, particularly up the middle (since there are fewer linebackers to clog gaps). The Fun n’ Gun offense UF ran under Spurrier made pretty good use of the concept- Fred Taylor was the second running back drafted in 1998, despite getting only two thirds of the carries of a “workhorse” back.
A pure Run n’ Shoot (see Texas Tech under Mike Leach) really only runs to keep the defense honest (ie. to make sure the safeties aren’t 30 yards from the line of scrimmage). The tailback becomes more valuable as a blocker and reciever than anything else.
Yep. Texas barely escaped Lubbock with a win this year, and I believe they had about 500 yards through the air - and negative 8 yards rushing.
thanks, anson2995! I had the misfortune of attending Texas when the University of Houston (aka “Cougar High”) ran an obnoxious version of the run and shoot, first under Jack Pardee and then under uberjerk John Jenkins, notorious for piling on the hapless SMU Mustangs 95-21. (SMU was notoriously weak in the SWC, and their defense was all freshmen. Jenkins kept his starters in the game and piled up over a thousand yards on offense. In a state where being a good sport matters, this just shows you how much of a jerk he was.) I heard that air raid signal way too often during my school years.
Not to mention the Houston Oilers were putting up sick numbers in the R&S in the early 90s as well.
Pardee took the run and shoot from UH to the Oilers, and the Lions also tried to adopt it after drafting UH quarteback Andre Ware. The only other NFL team that I recall using the run and shoot was the Atlanta Falcons under June Jones. Pardee had the most success with it at the pro level, with the Oilers going 42-22 in his first four seasons with four straight playoff berths. Then Warren Moon left, the team collapsed, and Pardee was canned.
You might argue that the Philadelphia Eagles use a watered-down Run n’ Shoot. While there’s usually a tight end on the field, he’s split out as a slot reciever about half the time, and they pass much more than they throw- about a 4:3 ratio this season, rising to almost 5:3 if you discount carries by the quarterback.
Starting RB Brian Westbrook has fewer than 200 carries, but has been thrown at almost 100 times.