The Pistol Offense

[TLCJR4LIFE]

Hi there! I am a fairly old player but new forum goer still loving this game, anyone still casually browsing this should know new things are still being discovered about this game to this day!

I want to talk about the Pistol Offense and how to use it since I have yet to see anyone in gameplay or in diaries really use this offense effectively.


I started a Rams file and went 14-2 and won the Super Bowl in year 1 instituting Pistol Offense and Tampa 2 Defense. Defeating Giants, Cowboys and Colts, the last two being stomps due to inability to deal with Cover 3.



Regarding the Pistol a running QB is MANDATORY. You simply cannot use the offense with a traditional QB as it eliminates the highest leverage plays in your playbook. Furthermore, the system marginalizes great QBs and boosts up mediocre ones. QBs who thrive in the Pistol are system QBs who lack great throwing talent but can make good enough decisions to abuse the quick routes and the fact that it’s one of the best systems for avoiding sacks.



QB: You need a QB who is not only fast but has rushing talent. Good trucking, elusiveness and carrying are necessary, a QB could have 90 speed but if he has 30 carrying and will fumble all the time he’s not necessarily useful.

You can check a QBS rushing attributes in the All Players tab, make sure they are up to snuff as good running QBs can easily get over 1000 yards in this option heavy system. Bench marks for throwing talent are low, 75 TP and 70 Accuracy, making it one of the most friendly systems for QBS who aren’t fantastic throwers. 70 Awareness is another benchmark id use for the ability to make decisions.


With regards to the attainable players, starting with the Titans gives you Vince Young, probably the best base game QB to run the offense, although his decision making isn’t always great. Josh Johnson similarly can run like the wind, even better than Young, but can take up to 2 and a half seasons to develop as a competent thrower and by the time he reaches his ceiling he will cost nearly your entire cap due to his high OVR and Super Star personality.

My personal favorite is to convert some of the available WR to QB, possible with the patch. Harry Douglas for my money is one of the best in the game in the system and could be gotten in the 3rd round of any 08 Draft. He starts with 70 learning and 70 awareness along with 80THP and 70 THA. As a rusher he has elusiveness in the 80s, decent enough carrying and an insane 95 speed and 94 agility, making him the fastest QB of any draft I’ve seen and faster than any base game QB. If you miss out on Harry, the Rams Marquese Hagans can be acquired for peanuts, but is a vastly superior option and should be upgraded immediately depending on your path.


HB: I prefer a power back with good size here to take advantage of your excellent blocking, but any number of good running backs will work.

More notably, I like my second half back to have good blocking ability for sets where there are multiple half backs, and I like him to have good catching stats for flat abuse in sets I will swap him as my full back.

Jamaal Buckingham makes an example of a great second half back, as he can block, run and catch as a specialty fullback sub in Triple Options, and PA Boots. Buckingham recorded about 2 TDs rushing and 3 Receiving in year 1 which is really solid production out of a backup running back seeing less than 100 touches a year.









So to summarize

QB: Speed focus, awareness second and then throwing stats. Example: Harry Douglas

Extremely Rare a literal handful of players each career can play this role.

HB: Any quality runner, but a power back might be best. Example: Brandon Jacobs, Brian Leonard

Fairly Common.

HB2: Utility player, should be able to do everything. Above average blocking for a back, not fumble prone, and good hands. These players are probably more rare than your main back. Don’t be afraid to pay them a few million. Example: Jamaal Buckingham

FB: Big, mobile blocking machines who are surehanded enough to never drop high leverage flat routes. Full backs are the most essential players on the team as they are the main point of attack blocker for the run game and also are the primary targets for the games most stable and consistent money plays. Get a good full back pronto. Dan Kreider is nearly always available and can do everything, he’s a pro bowl full back in the waits for peanuts. If you can manage to get a Lorenzo Neal or are playing the English path with some of their super full backs, knock yourself out. Ex: Dan Kreider, Lorenzo Neal, Reagan Mauia

Very Rare.

WR: Big, tall, good ability to separate and good ability to catch and traffic along with good blocking ability. These WRs tend to come cheap, and can be rotated in and out at a pittance due to their less than elite playmaking skills. Solid speed comes standard with all receivers, so the only thing you really need to look for is that their catching and catch in traffic isn’t below 70 or so. If they are over 6’1 that’s a bonus. The tricky part is the blocking, most receivers, especially the draft class ones can’t block, but you can keep your WRs low each training camp so the game gives you generated free agents, these players can generally block better than drafted ones. EX: Legadu Nanee, Arnaz Battle, Drew Bennett, Hines Ward, Brandon Marshall

Fairly Rare

TE: Tall enough and with good enough hands to catch balls in traffic and with superior blocking skills. Hard to find these players and usually require developing specialty players. The upside is these players are always comically undervalued by the AI and can be traded for 6th and 7th round picks flat out. Brad Cottam is never drafted by 95 percent of players and is considered by most a bust, dont buy the noise. He has a max run block potential of 90 which would, at full potential make him the best blocking TE in the game, only Brunning in the first season is as good but he’s old and will be injured half the season. Otherwise look in the generated player pile for fullbacks who are taller than normal. My current TE in my second year is a 6’4 converted FB by the name of Solomon Danielson who is 78 OVR with an 82 Potential. He’s the 2nd best blocking TE in the league currently with the small problem of having virtually no CIT but at less than a million per year he’s salary cap friendly.

EX: Mark Brunning, Kyle Brady, Brad Cottam, Daniel Graham, various generated fullbacks.


Extremely rare. A handful of players each career.


Offensive line - They are all virtually the same, there are some minor things you can min max here with the athleticism stats but it’s not worth the trouble, just get good blockers who have high run blocking stats and impact blocking especially to get pancakes. The only thing you might want to look at here is stamina, as your drives are often very long and you want lineman that can go the distance.

EX: Too many to list


Common




With the right assembly of players you can have a very dynamic offense.

With regards to special skills

QB Reads is nice to have as it allows your ability to scheme receivers open to be maximized with proper ball delivery.

Most important however is the run block discipline, get this on everyone you possibly can along with Improved Break Tackle. These are probably the most important factors to having a functional run game in Head Coach 09.



As far as expectations and the ceiling of the offense, number 1 in points scored, number 2 overall and number 1 in rush yards by a gigantic margin is what is considered a success for the offense.

In my first season Harry Douglas recorded 1800 yards and 22 TDS on the ground on 8.4 YPC while Brian Leonard recorded a 1500 yards and a 12 TDs on 4.8 YPC. Neither played the final game of the regular season.

As for passing, Douglas finished with 2400 yards, 19 TDs 6 INTs and a 68 percent completion ratio.

I will discuss the playbook and the day to day playcalling in a future post soon.

[Tampafan11]

Quote: Originally Posted by TLCJR4LIFE

Hi there! I am a fairly old player but new forum goer still loving this game, anyone still casually browsing this should know new things are still being discovered about this game to this day! I want to talk about the Pistol Offense and how to use it since I have yet to see anyone in gameplay or in diaries really use this offense effectively. I started a Rams file and went 14-2 and won the Super Bowl in year 1 instituting Pistol Offense and Tampa 2 Defense. Defeating Giants, Cowboys and Colts, the last two being stomps due to inability to deal with Cover 3. Regarding the Pistol a running QB is MANDATORY. You simply cannot use the offense with a traditional QB as it eliminates the highest leverage plays in your playbook. Furthermore, the system marginalizes great QBs and boosts up mediocre ones. QBs who thrive in the Pistol are system QBs who lack great throwing talent but can make good enough decisions to abuse the quick routes and the fact that it’s one of the best systems for avoiding sacks. QB: You need a QB who is not only fast but has rushing talent. Good trucking, elusiveness and carrying are necessary, a QB could have 90 speed but if he has 30 carrying and will fumble all the time he’s not necessarily useful. You can check a QBS rushing attributes in the All Players tab, make sure they are up to snuff as good running QBs can easily get over 1000 yards in this option heavy system. Bench marks for throwing talent are low, 75 TP and 70 Accuracy, making it one of the most friendly systems for QBS who aren’t fantastic throwers. 70 Awareness is another benchmark id use for the ability to make decisions. With regards to the attainable players, starting with the Titans gives you Vince Young, probably the best base game QB to run the offense, although his decision making isn’t always great. Josh Johnson similarly can run like the wind, even better than Young, but can take up to 2 and a half seasons to develop as a competent thrower and by the time he reaches his ceiling he will cost nearly your entire cap due to his high OVR and Super Star personality. My personal favorite is to convert some of the available WR to QB, possible with the patch. Harry Douglas for my money is one of the best in the game in the system and could be gotten in the 3rd round of any 08 Draft. He starts with 70 learning and 70 awareness along with 80THP and 70 THA. As a rusher he has elusiveness in the 80s, decent enough carrying and an insane 95 speed and 94 agility, making him the fastest QB of any draft I’ve seen and faster than any base game QB. If you miss out on Harry, the Rams Marquese Hagans can be acquired for peanuts, but is a vastly superior option and should be upgraded immediately depending on your path. HB: I prefer a power back with good size here to take advantage of your excellent blocking, but any number of good running backs will work. More notably, I like my second half back to have good blocking ability for sets where there are multiple half backs, and I like him to have good catching stats for flat abuse in sets I will swap him as my full back. Jamaal Buckingham makes an example of a great second half back, as he can block, run and catch as a specialty fullback sub in Triple Options, and PA Boots. Buckingham recorded about 2 TDs rushing and 3 Receiving in year 1 which is really solid production out of a backup running back seeing less than 100 touches a year. So to summarize QB: Speed focus, awareness second and then throwing stats. Example: Harry Douglas Extremely Rare a literal handful of players each career can play this role. HB: Any quality runner, but a power back might be best. Example: Brandon Jacobs, Brian Leonard Fairly Common. HB2: Utility player, should be able to do everything. Above average blocking for a back, not fumble prone, and good hands. These players are probably more rare than your main back. Don’t be afraid to pay them a few million. Example: Jamaal Buckingham FB: Big, mobile blocking machines who are surehanded enough to never drop high leverage flat routes. Full backs are the most essential players on the team as they are the main point of attack blocker for the run game and also are the primary targets for the games most stable and consistent money plays. Get a good full back pronto. Dan Kreider is nearly always available and can do everything, he’s a pro bowl full back in the waits for peanuts. If you can manage to get a Lorenzo Neal or are playing the English path with some of their super full backs, knock yourself out. Ex: Dan Kreider, Lorenzo Neal, Reagan Mauia Very Rare. WR: Big, tall, good ability to separate and good ability to catch and traffic along with good blocking ability. These WRs tend to come cheap, and can be rotated in and out at a pittance due to their less than elite playmaking skills. Solid speed comes standard with all receivers, so the only thing you really need to look for is that their catching and catch in traffic isn’t below 70 or so. If they are over 6’1 that’s a bonus. The tricky part is the blocking, most receivers, especially the draft class ones can’t block, but you can keep your WRs low each training camp so the game gives you generated free agents, these players can generally block better than drafted ones. EX: Legadu Nanee, Arnaz Battle, Drew Bennett, Hines Ward, Brandon Marshall Fairly Rare TE: Tall enough and with good enough hands to catch balls in traffic and with superior blocking skills. Hard to find these players and usually require developing specialty players. The upside is these players are always comically undervalued by the AI and can be traded for 6th and 7th round picks flat out. Brad Cottam is never drafted by 95 percent of players and is considered by most a bust, dont buy the noise. He has a max run block potential of 90 which would, at full potential make him the best blocking TE in the game, only Brunning in the first season is as good but he’s old and will be injured half the season. Otherwise look in the generated player pile for fullbacks who are taller than normal. My current TE in my second year is a 6’4 converted FB by the name of Solomon Danielson who is 78 OVR with an 82 Potential. He’s the 2nd best blocking TE in the league currently with the small problem of having virtually no CIT but at less than a million per year he’s salary cap friendly. EX: Mark Brunning, Kyle Brady, Brad Cottam, Daniel Graham, various generated fullbacks. Extremely rare. A handful of players each career. Offensive line - They are all virtually the same, there are some minor things you can min max here with the athleticism stats but it’s not worth the trouble, just get good blockers who have high run blocking stats and impact blocking especially to get pancakes. The only thing you might want to look at here is stamina, as your drives are often very long and you want lineman that can go the distance. EX: Too many to list Common With the right assembly of players you can have a very dynamic offense. With regards to special skills QB Reads is nice to have as it allows your ability to scheme receivers open to be maximized with proper ball delivery. Most important however is the run block discipline, get this on everyone you possibly can along with Improved Break Tackle. These are probably the most important factors to having a functional run game in Head Coach 09. As far as expectations and the ceiling of the offense, number 1 in points scored, number 2 overall and number 1 in rush yards by a gigantic margin is what is considered a success for the offense. In my first season Harry Douglas recorded 1800 yards and 22 TDS on the ground on 8.4 YPC while Brian Leonard recorded a 1500 yards and a 12 TDs on 4.8 YPC. Neither played the final game of the regular season. As for passing, Douglas finished with 2400 yards, 19 TDs 6 INTs and a 68 percent completion ratio. I will discuss the playbook and the day to day playcalling in a future post soon.

Did you call the plays or let the computer? Im trying to find the best playbook for the Ravens for my updated roster. I really want Lamar Jackson to run a lot like in real life, but he still only had like 250 yards rushing for the season when I tested this playbook (just simmed one season). I believe he had like 3000 yards passing. Not sure if the computer just doesnt do as many QB runs when simming....

Are you on PS3 or Xbox360. If PS3, have you tried the pistol with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in my updated roster?

[TLCJR4LIFE]

No the QB does not run, not only did I play all my games I created multiple options using some of the default options as a base to abuse the way the AI lines go and defends running plays.

For example putting the 90 run block tight end split out wide to cover the rush linebacker with a slight motion.


I haven’t tried the Lamar roster but I’d imagine the AI will not use him as a runner. Usually the AI rushes for a maximum of 30-50 yards per game on a good day where with user control I averaged 120 or so.


What you could probably do is create a ton of custom options for him if possible because they register as inside runs in the system then set the philosophy to power run but I’m not sure that’d really do much. The AI is very limited when mass stimming.

[Tampafan11]

Quote: Originally Posted by TLCJR4LIFE

No the QB does not run, not only did I play all my games I created multiple options using some of the default options as a base to abuse the way the AI lines go and defends running plays. For example putting the 90 run block tight end split out wide to cover the rush linebacker with a slight motion. I haven’t tried the Lamar roster but I’d imagine the AI will not use him as a runner. Usually the AI rushes for a maximum of 30-50 yards per game on a good day where with user control I averaged 120 or so. What you could probably do is create a ton of custom options for him if possible because they register as inside runs in the system then set the philosophy to power run but I’m not sure that’d really do much. The AI is very limited when mass stimming.

Thanks! Ya you can’t have any custom playbook for the roster. I have the ravens and Harbaugh as all set to power run. I’ve tried the pistol before in the tests and I may try again. Thanks for the input!

[RRozier09]

This is how I run my offense as well. My playbook is a combo of Pistol and the Hammermill Maryland I. Also I try to grab Harry Douglas and move him to QB, I thought I was the only one to do this consistently.