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 1970s at Portland State University and in the mid-1980s in the 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 comparatively 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), fellow Houston alumnus David Klingler and former University of Hawaii QB Timmy Chang.
Despite regular-season successes, the Run & Shoot ultimately fell out of favor in the NFL; 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 Urban Meyer; and, the Air Raid offense of Texas Tech's Mike Leach. West Virgina coach Rich Rodriguez uses a Run & Shoot offense that favors the run out of the shotgun.
[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.
[NOTE -- in the purest form of the offense, the proper compliment would consist of two wide receivers in the outside positions on the line, and two "slotbacks," running-back types who could catch as well as a wideout (ex. Ricky Sanders and Richard Johnson for the USFL's Houston Gamblers, both RBs in college), manning the inside receiver positions (just outside and behind the two offensive tackles). The slotbacks would be the receivers who would go into motion -- as described above -- to reveal the defensive's scheme and matchups. Also, by having stockier, RB-type receivers playing inside in the formation, they would be better suited for the punishing hits that slot receivers in the Run and Shoot would typically be subjected to (ex. When the Houston Oilers ran the offense as their only formation from 1990 to 1994, defenses would typically allow their WR-type slotbacks, Drew Hill, Ernest Givins and Webster Slaughter, to catch short passes in front of them, then unload on them as they turned upfield, sometimes causing fumbles or incomplete passes). Like the Oilers, all other NFL teams the used the Run and Shoot in the early 1990s did not deploy the proper type of insider receiver in the formation, instead using true wide receivers, which took away the inside threat of the offense.]
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 "pro-style" 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 first reaching 1,100 yards or more ten times, the latter two played for Pardee's Oilers). Running backs who thrive in the system tend to be smaller, shifty runners who do not require lead blockers. Barry Sanders, Lorenzo White and Gary Brown fit that description, as did Erric Pegram, who reached 1,000 yards with the Atlanta Falcons.
Recently, June Jones and his Hawaii Warrior football team posted some huge numbers once again. The "run & shoot" was very successful with QB Colt Brennan and company. Brennan led the set NCAA single season records for touchdowns, yards and passing efficiency. After much talk of entering the NFL Draft, Brennan decided to return to the University of Hawaii in 2007 for his senior season.
