Run & Shoot
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The Run & Shoot is a type of offense in American Football. It is predicated on using multiple wide receiver sets, and as many formation adjustments as are needed to adapt to the opposing defense's tactics.
Pioneered by coach Glenn "Tiger" Ellison in the late 1950s and popularized by Darryl "Mouse" Davis in the mid-1980s' USFL, the offense has evolved over the years into the fast-paced passing game common to football today. While it enjoyed a brief resurgence with some National Football League teams in the 1980s and 1990s, today it is primarily employed at the high school and college levels.
Examples of successful Run & Shoot offenses include the Warren Moon-quarterbacked Houston Oilers (n.k.a., Tennessee Titans) of the 1990s (coached by Jerry Glanville and then Jack Pardee), and the present-day offense of the University of Hawaii, coached by June Jones. Quarterbacks in a Run & Shoot system usually have abnormally high performance stats (e.g., around 50 pass attempts per game). Because of this, the numbers put up by Run & Shoot quarterbacks are often discredited as being a "by-product of the system", rather than the result of that QB's personal ability. Such criticism is especially prominent at the college level. Critics are often affirmed when QB's who succeeded with this set in college, flounder without it in the NFL, often saddling them with the derogatory descriptor "system quarterback". Prime examples are 1989 Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware (University of Houston), and fellow Houston alumnus David Klingler.
Despite regular-season successes, the Run & Shoot ultimately fell out of favor in the NFL (and to a lesser extent, the NCAA); its marginal running game was strongly linked with its teams' early playoff exits. Also, a Run & Shoot team's defense was susceptible to premature exhaustion (from being on the field for extended periods of time); all-pass offensive drives take a fraction of the time that all-run or run/pass offensive drives do. The legacy of the Run & Shoot lives on, though, in the offenses it has inspired: Jerry Glanville's no-huddle Redgun Offense; the pass-happy shotgun formations favored by Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer; and, the Air Raid offense of Texas Tech's Mike Leach (the latter three coaches work at the NCAA level).
[edit] Formations and motion
The Run & Shoot uses multiple formations, typically featuring at least four wide receivers. Motion (i.e., having a receiver suddenly change position by running left or right, parallel to the line of scrimmage, just prior to the ball being snapped) is used extensively -- both to create advantageous mismatches with the opposing defensive players, and to help reveal what coverage the defense is actually employing.
A typical set includes (along with the four wide-outs,) one halfback/running back, no fullback, the five offensive linemen (one center, the left- and right-guards, and the left- and right-tackles), and no tight end. The types of running backs vary from smaller, pass-catching-type backs to big, bruising, power-type backs. The frequent passing formations spread out the defense's players, causing them to expect that the subsequent plays will also be passes. If the repeated pass plays work, the defense is spread thinly across the field; running the ball between the offensive tackles, or just off-tackle, is now possible, and preferred. This is why "the pass sets up the run" is often said of Run & Shoot-type sets.
Run & Shoot offenses have trouble attracting quality running backs at the pro level because of the low number of carries (i.e., chances to run with the ball) they would get, despite having produced Pro Bowl seasons for running backs Barry Sanders, Lorenzo White and Gary Brown (the former having led the NFL in rushing; the latter two played for Pardee's Oilers).
