Football: Playing The Shotgun

The shotgun formation is a very effective passing play that the offense can use to gain substantial yardage in a single down. Instead of standing right behind the center to receive the snap, the quarterback moves 5 to 7 yards back. There are 3 main reasons for this: to space himself from the incoming defenders, to give 1 or 2 second to scan the field to find an open receiver and to give enough time for the wide receivers to run down the field. It utilizes the combination of the short punt and spread formations with 6 down linemen covering the quarterback. The rest of the offensive team is composed of one running back that is lined up next to the quarterback and 3 wide receivers, 2 on the left of the field and one on the right. Another variation of the shotgun formation has 3 wide receivers on the same side. The most common scenarios where the shotgun is used is during the 2nd-and-long and 3rd-and-long situations. One notable NFL team that is very efficient in running this play is the New York Jets during the later part of the Joe Namath era. The Dallas Cowboys with Roger Staubach at the helm used shotgun effectively in the 1975 season. The 2007 New England Patriots used shotgun in majority of their plays. In fact, they are the only team who effectively used the shotgun formation as base play in the history of the NFL. However, the shotgun formation can also be used to utilize the speed of the wide receivers, just like the Indianapolis Colts with Peyton Manning as the quarterback, Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison as wide receivers. Aside from them, fewer NFL teams today use the shotgun formation for one good reason: it is an obvious passing play. When this play is called, the defense can adjust their formation to check the receivers from running down the field. In most cases, this is called as play when the team is behind and need to pass in order to catch up, or when the team is pushed back way behind the line of scrimmage on the last play and need to get the first down on the next. Needless to say, it is a risky play. With an accurate quarterback and good wide receivers, the team can definitely run an excellent play and gain more yards or even a touchdown.
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