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The run and shoot offense (also known as Run N' Shoot) is an offensive system for
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...
which emphasizes receiver motion and on-the-fly adjustments of receivers' routes in response to different defenses. It was conceived by former high school coach Glenn "Tiger" Ellison and refined and popularized by former Portland State offensive coordinator Mouse Davis.


Description

The run and shoot system uses a
formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...
consisting of one
running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...
and usually four wide receivers. This system makes extensive use of receiver motion (having a receiver suddenly change position by running left or right, parallel to the
line of scrimmage In gridiron football, a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line (across the width of the field) beyond which a team cannot cross until the next play has begun. Its location is based on the spot where the ball is placed after the end o ...
, just before the ball is snapped), both to create advantageous mismatches with the opposing defensive players and to help reveal what coverage the defense is using. If a defender stays with the motioning receiver, it would imply
man-to-man coverage A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...
. The basic idea behind the run and shoot is a flexible offense that adjusts "on the fly," with the receivers changing their routes based on the defensive coverage and play of the defenders covering them. The
quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
then not only reads the defensive coverage to determine where to throw the ball, but must also read the defenders to determine the probable route his receivers may run. As a result, the offense is considered complex and difficult to implement due to the intelligence and communication required between quarterback and receivers. The offense also typically relies heavily on the pass, sometimes throwing the ball upwards of 65 to 75% in a game or over the course of a season. In the purest form of the offense, the proper complement would consist of two wide receivers lined up on the outside edges of the formation and two "
slotback Slotback, sometimes referred to as an A-back or slot receiver, is a position in gridiron football. The "slot" is the area between the last offensive lineman on either side of the center and the wide receiver on that side. A player who lines up ...
s" (wide receivers who line up one step back from the line of scrimmage, so as not to be considered "covered" and thus ineligible) lined up just outside and behind the two offensive tackles. The formation would look very similar to the Flexbone Offense formation.


Formation history

The original inventor of the run and shoot, Glenn "Tiger" Ellison, first started out with a formation that overloaded the left side of the offensive line for his scrambling quarterback. He called it "The Lonesome
Polecat Polecat is a common name for several mustelid species in the order Carnivora and subfamilies Ictonychinae and Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank (i.e. clade). The name is applied to several species with broad similari ...
". In many cases, the receivers used were shorter (often ranging from 5'7" to 5'11" in height) but faster, so they could outrun their defender more easily. By incorporating a 4th wide receiver instead of a bigger
tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense (sports), offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide ...
, defenses (usually a nickel defense or dime defense) would often substitute a smaller defensive back in place of a linebacker to cover that 4th wide receiver. Thus, the defense would often give up a big weight advantage. Running backs were usually bigger in weight, ranging from 210 to 230 pounds, due to the requirement of blocking. Since the running backs were bigger, many of the runs were designed to go inside or behind the offensive guard to take advantage of the two smaller defensive backs trying to tackle them instead of bigger linebackers. Due to the spacing of the wide receivers, this also made the interior of the field less packed with defenders, allowing for a blocking advantage for the offensive line. A lot of the core concepts involved option routes where receivers would make a decision based on the defender. One example would be for the Y receiver to run deep if the
free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dutie ...
was in the middle of the field or to run a post pattern inside if the safety was not there. A second example would be for an outside receiver to go deep if he could beat his defender with speed, or stop and hook back to the quarterback if he could not. A key route concept that has continued in today's modern passing game is the Switch where the two outside receivers switch places as they run down the field (the outside receiver runs inside, the inside receiver runs outside). In the early days of the offense under Mouse Davis, the offense was more reliant on a vertical passing attack going down the field and being aggressive. Many of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
teams that used the run and shoot in the early 1990s used true wide receivers in all four receiving positions.


Variations

Originally, the run and shoot was set up so the quarterback would be under center with the running back lined up a few yards behind him. Later, during his tenure with the
University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
,
June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1 ...
used quarterback
Colt Brennan Colton James Brennan (August 16, 1983 – May 11, 2021) was an American football quarterback. He played college football for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, where he was a two-time, third-team All-American before being selected by the Washington ...
out of the shotgun. In this case the running back is usually offset to the right or left of the quarterback. Also at Hawaii, Nick Rolovich tweaked the formation to run out of the pistol, thus creating an opportunity for a mobile quarterback to become a second running back. This led to increased success in the running game. Another formation that can often be seen with the run and shoot is the trips formation, where three wide receivers are situated to the right or left side of the line of scrimmage. Most of the time, this formation will be created out of motion when the W or Y receiver moves to the opposite side of the formation helping force defenses to declare whether they are in
man-to-man coverage A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create turnove ...
or
zone defense Zone defense is a type of defense, used in team sports, which is the alternative to man-to-man defense; instead of each player guarding a corresponding player on the other team, each defensive player is given an area (a zone) to cover. A zone de ...
.


Professional and collegiate notability with offense

The Portland State Vikings under head coach Mouse Davis went 42–24 in his tenure installing the offense and putting the system on the map. Quarterback
Neil Lomax Neil Vincent Lomax (born February 17, 1959) is a former American football quarterback who played his entire professional career for the St. Louis / Phoenix Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Portland S ...
set many records including career NCAA passing yards. In 1984 the offense came on to seen nationally in the
USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...
with the
Houston Gamblers The Houston Gamblers were an American football team that competed in the United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Gamblers were coached by veteran NFL head coach Jack Pardee in both their seasons. They were noteworthy for introducing ...
. Quarterback
Jim Kelly James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers of the United Stat ...
, under offensive coordinator Mouse Davis, would set the professional football passing yard record in a season with 5,219 yards. The 1989 Houston Cougars football team demonstrated the scoring potential of the run and shoot offense as quarterback Andre Ware set 26
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...
records and won the Heisman Trophy while the #14 ranked Cougars finished the season 9–2. The Cougars were disallowed from having its football games televised or playing in a Bowl Game that season due to NCAA sanctions imposed some years earlier. The following two seasons Houston quarterback David Klingler continued the success of the run and shoot throwing for 9,430 yards and 91 touchdowns, including 716 yards and 11 touchdown passes in a single game which were all records. Quarterbacks Ware and Klingler were both drafted in the NFL first round. The success of Houston's run and shoot offense along with the inability of its record setting quarterbacks to translate their success into the NFL led to the label of such quarterbacks in this system being "
system quarterback A system quarterback is an American football quarterback who flourishes under a particular offensive system, specifically one that focuses on passing. The term is often seen as a pejorative, for it implicitly downplays a quarterback's talent or s ...
s". At the
University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...
,
June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1 ...
went 76–41 including seeing quarterback
Timmy Chang Timothy Kealii'okaaina Awa Chang (born October 9, 1981) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is currently the head coach of the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. During his playing career at Hawaii, he set several major college footbal ...
set a record for most NCAA completions and passing yards in 2004 and quarterback
Colt Brennan Colton James Brennan (August 16, 1983 – May 11, 2021) was an American football quarterback. He played college football for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, where he was a two-time, third-team All-American before being selected by the Washington ...
set a record for touchdown passes in 2006 with 58. In 2018, Hawaii brought back the run and shoot offense under former Hawaii QB and head coach Nick Rolovich.


NFL teams that used the Run and Shoot offense


NCAA teams that used the Run and Shoot offense


Professional Spring League teams that used the Run and Shoot offense


References


External links


Culture Crossfire Article covering History/Background of Run and Shoot offense


{{DEFAULTSORT:Run And Shoot Offense American football strategy American football terminology