The Shotgun, The 'Gun, and the Shotgun Spread Offense
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:05 pm
Hail -
I came across this article a while back, and thought it might be relevant considering all the discussion about Zorn's increased use of the Shotgun as a comfort tool for JC even though he doesn't necessarily want to. The piece in question is a LONG read, and is a little over halfway down the page. Cheers.
http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/
The 'Gun and its history.
The shotgun itself, the perceived center of all of this "newness," has its roots in the beginning of football, however.
Most commentators, of course, seem to deify the "shotgun" itself as an entire offense rather than what it is - a particular way to align your quarterback and perform the center-exchange. Ironically, however, they also take a restricted view of the gun’s presence in football history, presuming it was invented, alternative, in the 60s (Red Hickey), the 70s (Tom Landry), the 80s (pick somebody), the 90s (pick somebody), or the 2000s (whoever they root for, or often Urban Meyer or some passing coach). Regardless, it's somewhat silly.
The point of this article is to show that (a) the shotgun itself has ancient roots, and is not some passing fad, (b) and, thus by inference, the ferment and change I spoke of in the introductory paragraphs is not as limited as how you align your Quarterback...
I came across this article a while back, and thought it might be relevant considering all the discussion about Zorn's increased use of the Shotgun as a comfort tool for JC even though he doesn't necessarily want to. The piece in question is a LONG read, and is a little over halfway down the page. Cheers.
http://smartfootball.blogspot.com/
The 'Gun and its history.
The shotgun itself, the perceived center of all of this "newness," has its roots in the beginning of football, however.
Most commentators, of course, seem to deify the "shotgun" itself as an entire offense rather than what it is - a particular way to align your quarterback and perform the center-exchange. Ironically, however, they also take a restricted view of the gun’s presence in football history, presuming it was invented, alternative, in the 60s (Red Hickey), the 70s (Tom Landry), the 80s (pick somebody), the 90s (pick somebody), or the 2000s (whoever they root for, or often Urban Meyer or some passing coach). Regardless, it's somewhat silly.
The point of this article is to show that (a) the shotgun itself has ancient roots, and is not some passing fad, (b) and, thus by inference, the ferment and change I spoke of in the introductory paragraphs is not as limited as how you align your Quarterback...