Fieldgulls breaks down the Pistol formation...

[MontanaHawk05]

...something you're likely to see Sunday on BOTH sides of the ball.

http://www.fieldgulls.com/2012/12/21/37 ... -formation

Cue jokes about how hard it will be to hide the RB behind OUR quarterback.

 

[SharkHawk]

We do a good job of hiding our RB behind our FB. I think we could mix it up and hide Russ behind MRob.

I don't know why they have never used Robinson for a direct snap or a potential throw. The guy has a great arm (well, at least he did in college) and he threw very well on the move. Split RW out wide and watch SF crap their pants as our FB takes the snap and rolls then throws. It would be pretty fun to watch the misdirection that could take place. It might even force them into burning a timeout due to the confusion of rolling out a formation they hadn't seen from us before and aren't sure how to manage.

 

[hawksfan515]

The Seahawks ran a formation called the "pistol" in the victory over the Buffalo Bills. You may have heard of this before because the 49ers run it. Well, it looks like we copied them! :mrgreen: Wilson does everything, what can I say?

The Pistol was pioneered by Nevada's Chris Ault in 2005, and was used extensively and successfully with Kaepernick in his career there. Now, of course, the 49ers run the Pistol looks, and the frequency of those looks has jumped up quite a bit over the past few games. It's almost a certainty that Seattle will have to deal with it on Sunday. Making the Pistol formation even more of a relevant topic for Seattle fans this week was that for the first time this season, I think, (probably ever, I'd guess), Seattle ran a couple of plays out of the formation as well.

Pretty cool. Definitely something to watch for in the 49er game. Remember folks, you notice the pistol by the QB seemingly in shotgun formation, but instead of the average 6-7 yards back he is about 4 yards back with the RB directly behind him.

 

[Axx]

I like it, it looks like something Bill Bilicheck and New England would run.

 

[ParisPC07]

We do a good job of hiding our RB behind our FB. I think we could mix it up and hide Russ behind MRob.

I don't know why they have never used Robinson for a direct snap or a potential throw. The guy has a great arm (well, at least he did in college) and he threw very well on the move. Split RW out wide and watch SF crap their pants as our FB takes the snap and rolls then throws. It would be pretty fun to watch the misdirection that could take place. It might even force them into burning a timeout due to the confusion of rolling out a formation they hadn't seen from us before and aren't sure how to manage.

That would be incredible. Touchdown pass from Mike Robinson to Russel Wilson.

 

[Jville]

The 49ers use much more variety and multiplicity in their Pistol looks, often times giving Kaepernick three or four options - to hand off, throw, or run it himself. They do read-option looks, triple-option looks, and it's going to be a challenge for Seattle to defend them. As ESPN's Liz Mathews pointed out on twitter, the 49ers have used pistol 33 times over their last two games, compared to only 30 times the first 12 games of season.

It surprises me that this thread and described trend has attracted so little attention on this message board going into this Sunday night. :hmmmm: I wonder what that says about us?

 

[Bobblehead]

It is a effective play, but a dangerous one as it puts the qb in a much more precarious position than other formations including the RZ.
precarious in that the qb is a lot close to the LOS, and if a blitzer makes it through in time.. lites out, the qb has no time to scramble.
Russ could do it very effectively, but you know its just a numbers game until Russ gets hurt. Think RG3

 

[ImTheScientist]

The Seahawks ran a formation called the "pistol" in the victory over the Buffalo Bills. You may have heard of this before because the 49ers run it. Well, it looks like we copied them! :mrgreen: Wilson does everything, what can I say?

Its been run in college for some time now. Its not new...fwiw, and the redskins have been running it all year.

 

[mikeak]

The problem is that RW us short so you can see Lyncg behind him....



Great read thanks for posting

 

[nepahawk]

Did you notice that there were quite a few bad snaps in that formation. RW made some nice plays handling the snaps.

 

[ImTheScientist]

It is a effective play, but a dangerous one as it puts the qb in a much more precarious position than other formations including the RZ.
precarious in that the qb is a lot close to the LOS, and if a blitzer makes it through in time.. lites out, the qb has no time to scramble.
Russ could do it very effectively, but you know its just a numbers game until Russ gets hurt. Think RG3

??? QB is in shotgun when in the pistol. Guess I don't understand your comment on him being closer to the LOS. The pistol is more about how the RB lines up compared to other "shotgun" formations....in pistol the RB is directly behind the QB (who is in shotgun).

In most general terms, the Pistol is a truncated version of the "Shotgun" formation, but in its case, the quarterback is only about four-and-a-half yards behind center/line of scrimmage, instead of the customary seven or eight yards in a shotgun look. Further, in this look, the running back is directly behind the quarterback, instead of being offset, right next to him as you'd see in Shotgun.

 

[ImTheScientist]

Did you notice that there were quite a few bad snaps in that formation. RW made some nice plays handling the snaps.

:common069: They only ran pistol twice in buffalo.

 

[nepahawk]

Did you notice that there were quite a few bad snaps in that formation. RW made some nice plays handling the snaps.

:common069: They only ran pistol twice in buffalo.

I believe it was RW first touchdown run, that was run in that formation, that the snap was off and almost caused a collision with Lynch in the backfield. IIRC

There were other bad snaps throughout the game, maybe they weren't all in the pistol. My bad if they weren't.

Just rewatched that play, they were in shotgun. I don't know what I'm talking about.

 

[hawksfan515]

Did Montana post this before me?

 

[JSeahawks]

The 49ers use much more variety and multiplicity in their Pistol looks, often times giving Kaepernick three or four options - to hand off, throw, or run it himself. They do read-option looks, triple-option looks, and it's going to be a challenge for Seattle to defend them. As ESPN's Liz Mathews pointed out on twitter, the 49ers have used pistol 33 times over their last two games, compared to only 30 times the first 12 games of season.

It surprises me that this thread and described trend has attracted so little attention on this message board going into this Sunday night. :hmmmm: I wonder what that says about us?

Well, anybody who watches college football has seen an awful lot of the pistol the past few years from multiple programs. It's not exactly new and ground breaking stuff. Although it is new to the NFL.

 

[hawksfan515]

The 49ers use much more variety and multiplicity in their Pistol looks, often times giving Kaepernick three or four options - to hand off, throw, or run it himself. They do read-option looks, triple-option looks, and it's going to be a challenge for Seattle to defend them. As ESPN's Liz Mathews pointed out on twitter, the 49ers have used pistol 33 times over their last two games, compared to only 30 times the first 12 games of season.

It surprises me that this thread and described trend has attracted so little attention on this message board going into this Sunday night. :hmmmm: I wonder what that says about us?

Well, anybody who watches college football has seen an awful lot of the pistol the past few years. It's not exactly new and ground breaking stuff. Although it is new to the NFL.

Thanks for merging the threads J. Didn't see Montana's, it must have been deeply buried.

 

[Bobblehead]

It is a effective play, but a dangerous one as it puts the qb in a much more precarious position than other formations including the RZ.
precarious in that the qb is a lot close to the LOS, and if a blitzer makes it through in time.. lites out, the qb has no time to scramble.
Russ could do it very effectively, but you know its just a numbers game until Russ gets hurt. Think RG3

??? QB is in shotgun when in the pistol. Guess I don't understand your comment on him being closer to the LOS. The pistol is more about how the RB lines up compared to other "shotgun" formations....in pistol the RB is directly behind the QB (who is in shotgun).

In most general terms, the Pistol is a truncated version of the "Shotgun" formation, but in its case, the quarterback is only about four-and-a-half yards behind center/line of scrimmage, instead of the customary seven or eight yards in a shotgun look. Further, in this look, the running back is directly behind the quarterback, instead of being offset, right next to him as you'd see in Shotgun.

No.. qb is not in shotgun.. (sure qb is not right under center, but not as far back as a typical shotgun formation)
The QB is only maybe a couple of yards off the LOS.. Shot gun you are typically further back.