What is Shotgun Formation in Football?
The shotgun formation is a popular football play call in which the center snaps the ball to the quarterback (QB) while the quarterback lines up five or more yards behind the line of scrimmage. This formation is commonly used to give the quarterback a slightly different look from the traditional four-man defensive line and six or seven defenders in coverage. In this article, we’ll dive deeper into what shotgun formation is, its benefits, and some key stats and trends related to its usage.
Contents
The Origin of the Shotgun Formation
The shotgun formation dates back to the 1970s when coaches experimented with unbalanced lines, shift-offs, and even "dive" motion, as they tried to get more favorable matchups. In 1978, Notre Dame’s coach Ara Parseghian first introduced the concept of lining up five or more yards behind the center to confuse defenses and take advantage of their reaction.
How the Shotgun Formation Works
In the shotgun formation, the offense has five key elements to control the tempo and shape the defensive alignment:
- The Center Snap: The center snaps the ball directly to the quarterback, creating a slight advantage due to the extra yards separating them.
- Quarterback Depth: The quarterback lines up anywhere from five to seven yards behind the line of scrimmage, offering more time for them to read the defense, recognize coverages, and deliver the ball downfield.
- Tackle Shifts and Blocks: The tackles will usually shift their alignment in one direction or the other to control the defensive tackle, either inside or outside.
- Gives and Blocks: Wingback-type players (F-WRs, fullback-widereceivers) act as extra blockers for the RB or TE on specific assignments, creating hole creation for the running backs or open targets for the wide receivers.
- Safety Values and Adjustments: Cornerbacks and Safeties align based on pre-snap keys, respecting the offense’s alignment to potentially eliminate receiving threats while simultaneously reading the quarterback’s post-snap movement for additional responsibility.
Benefits of Shotgun Formation
Here are some key advantages the shotgun formation offers to coaches:
- Speed Up or Slow Down Tempo: Coaches can influence the game’s pace using shotgun. It allows them to go quick-hike with minimal chance of recognition (staying in passing lanes), or they can extend plays and create tempo-dependent wrinkles (e.g., RBs running counter-movement to the defensive alignment).
- Spread or Pack Defenses: Coaches can manipulate coverages using shotgun, testing both two-high and two-deep zone schemes and zone-pressure blitzes from secondary play-action.
- Preventive Gameplan Execution: Shotgun affords a degree of confidence when play-actioning based on zone defense, and a defensive coach may play-action call from the first-down boundary or goal-to-go red-zone situations (high percentages for conversion, assuming confidence).
- Multi-Trait Possibilities: A balanced playbook can maintain and showcase an offense with many skills (e.g., quarterback-reads for post and out routes) – Shotgun facilitates this development with versatility and adaptability to in-game situations and score dynamics.
Shooting the Middle Aisle – Statistics and Trends
Based on **Advanced Football Analytics (NFLsavant.org) statistics and trends in modern NFL games (2020-present), here’s how the shotgun formation ranks relative to other formations:
2022 data (NFL week 15 and later):
Formation Success Rate (%) Pistol-Gun 82.2% (n=1,116 plays) Shotgun 75.9% (n=1,343 plays) Quarter 65.9% (n=734 plays) Quarterback Climbs % Making < 200 Attempts (in 2020 season) 76.9% Making 201+ Attempts (in 2020 season) 70.9% - Roster adjustments and formations within Shotgun:
• Shotgun + 21 WR set (1 x W/WR, W/TW) = +14% to +26% increases in passing completions per snap, depending on opposing pass-rush rankings
• Shotgun with Rb-CB/RB splits: +21.8% increase in success rates with 60-100 passing yards generated; Rb-CB is key to this enhancement (6-8)
As shotgun plays continue to thrive in the modern era of NFL football, coaching schemes prioritize adaptable, quarterback-focused concepts, and formation nuances in an effort to manage risk while maintaining aggression on passing plays. Remember to recognize key elements from center snap to Tackle shift, gives and blocks.
