No longer shunning the shotgun

By RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer
Published October 28, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Brian Cassella | Times] About a third of the Bucs' 1,535 passing yards have come while using the shotgun. In the formation, unofficially, Jeff Garcia is 46-of-72 (64 percent) for 547 yards and a touchdown.

TAMPA

Even before quarterback Jeff Garcia decided to play for the Bucs, coach Jon Gruden was softening his stance on the shotgun.

Long an opponent of the formation, Gruden had never incorporated it during his nine years as an NFL head coach and three as an offensive coordinator.

But with an inexperienced offensive line, and coming off a season that featured more batted balls than a Devil Rays game, Gruden went back into his darkened office until he saw the light on moving the quarterback a few yards behind the center.

"To be honest, it wasn't really a sell at all," said Garcia, above. "I think when he knew that I was going to come here, I believe that he just began thinking about incorporating it into our offense. For me, I feel like it is an advantage. It is something that I am very comfortable doing. It creates immediate separation from the line of scrimmage. It allows that cushion right away. As long as John Wade is continuing to do a good job snapping the football, those things can be a positive for us and have been positive for us. It's just become a staple of this offense right now."

In last week's 23-16 loss at Detroit, Garcia was under siege from the Lions pass rush. Besides being sacked three times, unofficially he was hurried 24 times, hit nine times and knocked down on five passing downs.

Yet he set a team record with 18 straight completions in a game and connected on 82 percent of his passes (37-of-45) for 316 yards and two touchdowns.

Just imagine what might have happened had Garcia not gone to the shotgun, where he went 9-of-13for 83 yards.

"I like it," Gruden said. "I thought we had four or five low snaps last week, but I think we've helped ourselves. You know, we're running the ball out of the shotgun, we're able to throw the quick game in the shotgun. We have a different element, a different way of protecting the passer. We have different rules, obviously, like everybody else. I like it. I'm excited about it."

For good reason. About a third of the Bucs' 1,535 passing yards have come while using the shotgun. In the formation, unofficially Garcia is 46-of-72 (64 percent) for 547 yards and a touchdown.

That's certainly a departure from Gruden's past dozen years, when any suggestion of incorporating the shotgun formation was met with one of his glares.

Gruden now insists his position on the shotgun formation was misconstrued a bit.

Turns out he tried to add it to his offense in Oakland, but then Raiders quarterback Rich Gannonnixed the deal.

"We did, and we put it in at Oakland, and Rich (Gannon) didn't like it, to be honest with you," Gruden said. "If the quarterback doesn't like it, I don't like it. We came here, and to be honest with you, we had a whole new system we were putting in, and we didn't want to have two or three different sets of rules in pass protection."

Brad Johnson would have preferred it, Gruden said, but there were so many changes to the offense in his first few years in Tampa Bay that he didn't want to cloud the issue. Brian Griese might have thrived using it, Gruden said.

But the past few years, with relatively inexperienced quarterbacks such as Chris Simms and Bruce Gradkowski, Gruden was reluctant to try it.

"I don't want to be critical or anything," Gruden said. "I didn't feel like that was the way to go with some of the guys we had. It's hard enough with some of the other obstacles we were trying to overcome. I didn't want to compound anything."

Garcia, listed at 6 feet 1 and 205 pounds, likes the separation from the line of scrimmage to scan the field. And he's adept at catching the center snap, finding the laces and quickly releasing an accurate pass.

"I think Jeff's catch and release, his ability to handle the ball and get rid of it quickly back there, makes him unique," Gruden said.

Of course, the Bucs use the shotgun to launch passes at intermediate and long distances, but the quick game was effective last week at Detroit.

"I think this year, more so than any, we've started to combine the shorter routes along with the medium range or the longer routes," Garcia said. "That was something that I hadn't done much in the past, and now we are starting to utilize it more in a way that creates an advantage for us."

But a few concerns come with the shotgun formation - beyond the possibility of a wayward snap.

The first involves the running game. The challenge for any team using the shotgun is to try to remain two-dimensional. Nothing screams pass to the defense like a quarterback who starts 5 yards behind the center.

But the Bucs have been successful this season running the ball out of the formation. Against the Lions, the Bucs rushed five times for 38 yards while working out of the shotgun.

"The toughest thing is, can you run the ball?" quarterbacks coach Paul Hackett said. "And I think (offensive line coach) Bill Muir has done a really good job because we've actually run the ball reasonably well. ... I would say at this point it's been a smashing success. You always worry about some of the things you don't get. But at this point, we're willing to have that tradeoff. So we feel good about it."

Another factor is pass protection. The rules change when the quarterback is in the shotgun, particularly for running backs who have to pick up a blitz.

"If you're a running back and the quarterback is in the shotgun, I can come underneath you and go pick up a blitz over there," said Gruden, describing how the back can start on one side of the quarterback and make a block on his other side. "Even though I'm set to the left, I might be checking over here on a double-read, so the defense doesn't really know. Whereas if (the quarterback is) underneath the center, you can't go coast to coast and pick up a blitz. You'll get in the quarterback's way."

Nothing energizes Gruden like a new formation to begin his creative process of designing plays. He has that this season with Garcia in the shotgun.

"We've run play-action passes for big plays," Gruden said. "Right now, we're trying to figure out who's up, who's down, who's coming and who's going. ... It's been a real good addition for us. We feel like we're getting better."

FAST FACTS

The shotgun formation

In 1960, San Francisco 49ers coach Red Hickey unveiled a formation that combined elements of a punt setup, a spread passing attack and a double-wing formation invented by Stanford's Pop Warner nearly 30 years earlier. Hickey called it the shotgun formation because receivers would be sprayed around the field like being fired from a scattershot gun.

- The quarterback usually stands 5 to 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage rather than under center, allowing him more time to spot receivers and avoid an aggressive pass rush.

- One or two backs can flank the quarterback, and as many as five receivers can be spread across the formation.

Did you know?

- The 49ers used the shotgun for the first time Nov. 27, 1960, against the heavily favored Baltimore Colts. The formation stymied the Colts' vaunted pass rush and opened up the running attack, allowing the 49ers to pull off a 30-22 upset.

- 49ers quarterback John Brodie, who replaced injured starter and Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle, became known as "the man who pulled the trigger of the shotgun."

- The 49ers dropped the formation in late 1961 after a losing streak, and teams rarely used it for several years. But Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry revived the formation in the mid 1970s, and it soon spread throughout the league.

Times wires

[Last modified October 27, 2007, 17:29:32]