Run & Shoot

[Brockleigh]

I was thinking about this game at work today (this is how bad it's gotten... not only do I play this game non-stop at home, but it's also haunting me at work in my day-job! DAMN YOU, DAVID WINTER!!!) lol

Okay, in all seriousness. Y'all remember the Run & Shoot offense? The entire concept (as I recall, but I was 17 when the Houston Oilers abandoned it) was that you had a four-receiver, one back set. The play would be called in the huddle, and each receiver would have three or four options for the route he would run.

Once the huddle was broken and the team came to the line, the receivers would then signal the QB as to which route he was running, the QB would take note, and the ball would be snapped. On every play, the QB would roll out either left or right, but never drop straight back.

The idea being that, similar to the West Coast Offense, a wide variety of plays would be run out of one formation, but in this case, against a defense consisting of primarily smaller players (as most defenses would cover the Run & Shoot with a Nickel or Dime set).

At least, this is Darrel "Mouse" Davis' version of it, and he pioneered the concept with first the Toronto Argonauts in the EARLY 80's, in the USFL with the Houston Gamblers (featuring Jim Kelly at QB) and the Denver Gold, and then in the NFL with the Detroit Lions when Wayne Fonts was the coach and Rodney Peete was the QB.

Any thoughts from anyone on what they know about the concept? I'm toying with the idea of putting together a Run & Shoot playbook.

[Deft]

The offense is still in the college ranks, I believe the Texas Tech offense is a variant. This offense is good for player personnel because receivers best for the system are short and quick and you don't have to carry alot of backup TEs and FBs. 
So patterns run for the receivers should highlight their skills like outs, stop and go's, bubble screens, veers, and lots of motion. 

[dreamtheatervt]

The Texas Tech version is a little different than the one used by the Oilers, Falcons, and Lions.  The run-and-shoot used in the late 80s early 90s did have a very effective ground game (the Oilers and Lions churned out plenty of ground yardage).  Most runs were designed to be quick hitters if the defense gave a large gap by alignment, or counter plays in which the bigger receivers (Haywood Jefferys comes to mind) could come crack block on the edge.  As for passing plays, many of the concepts that govern modern passing today were in place then or developed in the run and shoot.  Usually two receivers had set routes regardless of the defence, and the other two receivers would chose routes pre-snap based on their pre-snap keys and relay their "reading" to the QB who would confirm or dispute that read.  It really was a fascinating offense, but it's downfall was the zone blitz and super-quick DEs who thrived in one-on-one blocking schemes, because there was basically no help for the offensive line.  If you want to know more, send me a PM and I can go more in depth sometime when I'm not at work (you're not the only one Brockleigh).
 
In FBPro, I had a run and shoot offence that worked very well with mediocre receivers, I'm sure someday I'll get around to it on FBMax as well.

[Marauders]

Variable route assignments were used in the Cincy Style West Coast Offense and were developed in the early 1970's.
 
The Run and Shoot not only uses variable assignments, but also often uses motion, no huddle, four receivers (no TE), and the shotgun.  It was based on a basketball philosophy of reading the defense and attacking it in real time rather than using set play strategies.  The point guard became the quarterback.
 
Once defenses understood how the quarterback and receiver reads worked, they began to disguise coverage, jump routes, and overload blitz the Run and Shoot.  In the mid 1990's, the Run and Shoot was all but abondoned in the NFL, but many teams still use parts of it in their two minute drills.
 
The Run and Shoot has now evolved into the Spread Offense which is similar.
 

[Pale Driver]

Brockleigh, you left out Mouse Davis' time with the New York/New Jersey Knights in the 1991/1992 WLAF. As a London Monarchs fan I saw the Run and Shoot a couple of times and it wasn't just the passing game that could put up big numbers. I seem to remember the Knight's running back (Eric Wilkerson) was the leading rusher for the 1991 season.
I tried to create a Run and Shoot formation but the PDS seems to insist on a TE or RB as the fourth receiver.
 
On a separate note, I have made up the original WLAF uniforms (even the infamous neon green Orlando Thunder uniform). I will upload on to fbmax.com if anyone is interested.

[Brockleigh]

Great response, guys. This has been a huge help. I have a little time coming up over the next couple of days to fool around with the formation.

The main reason I wanted to give this a shot was that I am running a USFL league, and I had a playoff game against the Houston Gamblers, and although I have nmleagues' Pro Playbook 4 assigned to the Gamblers which utilizes a single back, it just didn't seem like the Gamblers (yes, I do remember watching a couple of their games on ABC way back when).

There are the WLAF uniforms up there already, Pale Driver, but I'd like to have a look at them.

... and oh, those lime green jerseys.